university  of 

Connecticut 

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BOOK     132.72.B677A   c.  1 

?^!!^J".fJ A^^'^^^^    '"^S    INFLUENCE    ON 


MIND    AND    BODY 


3  T1S3  ODOblBlfl  M 


ITS 


ALCOHOL 

AND   BODY 


BY 


EDWIN  F.  BOWERS,  M.D. 


7 


7n3 


NEW  YORK 

EDWARD  J.   CLODE 

PUBLISHER 


►-^-.v-'A 


^M'^i^ 


\  ■  ' 


->  ■■'>  '  ■  '-<^ 


COPYSIGHT,     1916 
BY     EDWARD     J.    C  L  O  D  E 


All  rights  reservoA  including  that  of 
translation  into  foreign  languages 


DEDICATED  TO 

MY  WIFE 

WHO   HAS   CONSISTENTLY  INSPIRED   AND 
ENCOURAGED   MY   BEST   EFFORTS 


-S*      j". 


PREFACE 

THE  average  man  drinks  for  one  or  more  of 
three  reasons. 

First,  because  he  knows  no  better  or  has  been 
wrongly  informed  or  maHciously  misinformed: 

Second,  because  the  enemy,  his  friends,  insist 
on  his  being  a  "good  fellow,"  and  he  hasn't  the 
gumption  to  realize  that  good  fellowship  begins 
at  home:   and, 

Third,  because  his  alcoholized  body  cells  crave 
narcotics. 

The  average  man  has  had  little  opportunity, 
except  by  referring  to  highly  technical  foreign 
works,  of  knowing  that  even  the  smallest  amount 
of  alcohol  reduces  his  efficiency  in  clear  thinking, 
in  quickness  of  eye,  ear,  and  brain;  in  all  those 
tasks,  coordinating  muscle  and  mind,  that  make 
up  the  complex  fabric  of  industrial  activities. 

He  has  always  believed  that  alcohol  is  a  stimu- 
lant. I  shall  show,  on  the  evidence  of  physiolo- 
gists  and   psychologists,   that   it  is    a   depressant; 


VI  PREFACE 


that  a  normal,  non-alcoholized  man  drinking  for 
purposes  of  mental  stimulation  merely  receives  his 
"kick"  in  the  imagination. 

Also,  that  a  moderate  drinker's  mental  output, 
as  to  quantity  and  quality,  is  decreased  in  measur- 
able degree,  as  worked  out  in  thousands  of  experi- 
ments with  instruments  of  absolute  precision. 

We  have  been  told  that  alcohol  is  a  food.  I 
propose  to  show  that  the  food -value  theory  of 
alcohol  has  been  thoroughly  discredited  —  that 
even  the  most  frequently  quoted  of  the  food 
theory  champions  declares  it  to  be  a  food  only 
as  arsenic,  belladonna,  and  other  poisons  are  foods. 
Also,  that  not  only  is  the  food  value  of  beer  almost 
negligible,  but  that  beer  is,  if  anything,  even  more 
besottmg  and'ctangerous  than  liquor. 

Many  do  not  know  that  modern  medicine 
absolutely  repudiates  the  so-called  therapeutic 
value  of  alcohol.  Or  that  even  moderate  —  let 
alone  excessive  —  drinking  never  made  a  poet 
more  poetic,  an  engineer  or  a  captain  of  industry 
more  practical,  or  a  philosopher  more  philosophi- 
cal; that  none  of  the  genius  of  inspiration  lurks 
in  the  lees  of  the  wine  cup;  and  that  a  sweeter, 
saner  social  life  can  and  does  follow  the  banish- 
ment of  Bacchus,  and  the  installation  in  his  place 


PREFACE  Vll 


of   Minerva,   Euterpe,   and  little,   chubby-cheeked 

Eros. 

So  if  this  modest  effort  shall  have  been  the 
means  of  inculcating  these  truths,  and  convincing 
even  a  few  good  fellows  to  be  better  fellows  I 
shall  be  amply  repaid,  and  highly  gratified  in  the 
conviction  that  the  world  is  just  a  little  better 
and  sweeter,  and  some  few  wives  and  little  kiddies 
are  happier,  because  I  lived  awhile  on  this  earth 
and  wrote  a  little  book  about  "Alcohol  — Its 
Influence  on  Mind  and  Body." 

EDWIN  F.  BOWERS,  M.D. 
June  1,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

CBAFTEB  PAGE 

I.  The  Emperor  of  Drugs 1 

II.  The  Ignorance  of  300  Centuries.      ...  7 

EH.  When  is  a  Man  Drunk  ? 13 

IV.  More  Truth  about  the  Demon  Rum.      .      .  27 

•*  V—  V.  Alcohol  and  Children 39 

J       VI.  "Booze'*  as  Food 49 

VII.  Beer  the  Brutalizer 65 

^/  Vni.  What  Alcohol  Does  to  Cells.      .      .    '"P  .  75 

'^'     IX.  The  Doctor's  Verdict 85 

v^   X.  Alcohol,  the  Death's  Head      .      .      .      .      .  101 

XI.  Alcohol  and  Accidents 109 

Xn.  Alcohol  and  War 121 

"XIII.  Efficiency  and  Deficiency 137 

XIV.  What  Industry  Thinks  of  Alcohol    .      .      .  153 

XV.  Old  John  B.  and  the  College  Man  .      .      .  177 

XVI.  What  It  Costs  and  What  It's  Worth    .      .  185 

XVII.  Bre.^king  the  Alcohol  Shackles  .      .      .     .  193 


^^ 


ALCOHOL 

ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  MIND  AND  BODY 

Chapter  I 
TEE  EMPEROR  OF  DRUGS 

THE  average  man  drinks  because  he  is  an 
average  man  and  a  moderate  drinker.  He 
knows  the  difference  between  a  sot  and  a  moderate 
drinker.  He  knows  that  he  can  stop  if  he  wishes. 
He  has  complete  faith  in  his  abihty  to  avoid 
sottism,  to  walk  arm  and  arm  adown  the  primrose 
path  with  Mr.  Moderation. 

He  is  probably  right  in  this  conviction.  He 
may  never,  or  rarely  ever,  overstep  the  bounds  of 
moderate  drinking,  in  which  he  assumes  that  there 
is  no  harm,  and  there  may  be  much  good. 

For  is  not  an  occasional  drink  stimulating  .^^ 
Is  alcohol  not  a  food.^^  Do  not  our  German 
brethren  —  some  of  whom  own  brewery  stock  — 
contend  that  beer  is  "liquid  bread";    that  malt 


2  ALCOHOL 


and  hop  liquors  and  brews  are  concentrated 
nourishment  in  most  concentrated  form? 

Have  not  doctors  prescribed  alcohol  since  that 
old  day  —  or  perhaps  long  before  —  when  we  were 
counseled  to  "take  a  little  wine  for  our  stomach's 
sake"?  Has  alcohol  not  been  issued  as  an  emer- 
gency ration  to  stimulate  for  murderous  carnage 
by  field  and  flood?  Have  not  the  conquering 
races  of  the  world  been  tipplers  and  wine  bibbers? 

Witness  the  supineness  and  cow-like  docility  of 
the  East  Indians,  who  permit  a  mere  handful  of 
whiskey-drinking,  beef-eating  Englishmen  to  domi- 
nate and  domineer  them.  Also,  observe  the  Chi- 
nese —  who  are  the  original  human  door-mats, 
guaranteed  never  to  turn,  even  when  trodden  upon 
in  rankest  injustice  —  in  contrast  with  the  "pep- 
pery," saki-drinking  Japs. 

Have  not  the  great  poets,  from  Anacreon  to 
Omar  Khayyam,  and  from  the  Tent  Maker  to 
Kipling,  extolled  the  virtues  of  the  ferments  of 
grape  and  grains? 

Did  not  the  commanders  of  men,  from  Alexander 
the  Great  down  to  Grant  and  Von  Hindenberg, 
hew  out  victories  in  that  noble  rage  inspired  of 
wine,  whiskey,  and  beer? 

Do    not    the    world's    inventive    geniuses    solve 


THE    EMPEROR    OF    DRUGS  3 

their  most  intricate  problems;  do  not  the  great 
captains  of  industry  "put  over"  their  biggest 
deals;  and  do  not  the  diplomats  plan  their  most 
bare-faced  coups  to  the  accompaniment  of  popping 
corks  and  gurghng  liquids  rich  in  that  white 
fire-water  that  takes  the  man  out  of  manhood? 

Did  not  the  dissolute,  wine-smeared  Socrates  — 
the  profoundest  thinker  that  ever  lived  —  inspire 
Plato  with  the  ideas  —  perhaps  furnish  even  the 
actual  thought-stuff,  out  of  which  were  woven 
those  immortal  Dialogues? 

If  all  the  gregarious,  social  Hfe  of  the  race  is 
manifested  in  highest  degree  around  the  drink- 
splashed  festal  board;  if  the  shrine  of  Bacchus  is 
the  perennial  meeting  place  of  countless  millions 
of  devotees,  who  might  otherwise  be  misanthropic, 
or  mutually  suspicious  of  each  other,  why,  in  the 
name  of  all  the  gods  at  once,  isn't  it  good  to 
encourage  this  spirit?  If  cheer  and  good  fellow- 
ship can  replace  gloom  and  loneliness;  if  the 
magic  of  that  wondrous  Alchemist  transmutes 
Life's  leaden  metal  into  gold,  why  deny  this 
alcoholic  solace  to  mankind? 

Most  men  who  drink  believe  some  or  all  of  these 
things.  The  average  man  accepts  them  because 
he  doesn't  know  any  better.     Hitherto,  he  has  not 


ALCOHOL 


been  definitely  shown  the  error  of  his  behef  that 
moderate  drinking  is  harmless.  Of  course,  every- 
body admits  the  harm  in  excessive  drinking.  The 
moderate  drinker  always  has  believed  that  alcohol 
is  a  stimulant. 

He  has  been  told  that  alcohol  is  a  food.  He 
believes  the  "liquid  bread"  fable,  and,  to  the  best 
of  his  ability,  obeys  the  admonitions  of  the  malt 
lords:  "Drink  up,  the  brewery  needs  the  empty 
kegs."  ^^''^"'^'   "^-5^--     -:>-- 

The  average  man  is  prone  to  explain  his  indul- 
gence in  liquor  on  the  ground  of  medical  benefits. 
He  has  been  regaled  for  lo,  these  many  years,  by 
the  earnest  admonitions  of  hoary-headed  cen- 
tenarians to  take  FluflSe's  Malt  Whiskey  or  Old 
Hangover,  get  rid  of  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir 
to  or  likely  to  inherit,  and  live  to  be  a  hundred. 
This,  by  getting  comfortably  and  scientificially 
permeated  by  these  panaceas,  and  remaining 
thusly.  These  beliefs  of  the  average  drinking  man 
are  part  of  his  allegiance  to  King  Alcohol. 

Now,  if  this  ruler  really  possessed  these  manifold 
virtues  attributed  to  him,  perhaps  the  annual  tax 
of  five  bilhon  dollars  —  fifty  dollars  a  year  for 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States 
—  might  not  be  excessive. 


THE    EMPEROR    OF    DRUGS 


But  the  moderate  drinker  didn't  know  what 
alcohol  did  to  him.  In  fact,  nobody  knew  much 
about  alcohol  until  men  began  to  study  it  scien- 
tifically. As  human  beings  these  investigators 
were  prejudiced  in  favor  of  alcohol;  as  scientists 
they  did  not  care  what  was  proven  so  long  as  the 
facts  were  incontrovertibly  established. 

Their  studies  demonstrated  conclusively  that  all 
preconceived  theories  and  beliefs  were  wrong. 
Alcohol  has  none  of  the  virtues  and  few  of  the 
qualities  claimed  for  it.  The  Arabs,  who  gave  it 
its  name  —  al  ghole  —  had  the  right  idea.  Alcohol 
is  exactly  what  its  name  indicates  —  an  "evil 
spirit."    It  is  the  emperor  of  all  drugs. 


Chapter  II 
TEE  IGNORANCE  OF  300  CENTURIES 

INASMUCH  as  human  beings  have  been  drink- 
ing alcohol  for  some  300  centuries  —  its  dis- 
covery is  believed  to  be  coincident  with  the  dawn 
of  the  agricultural  period  —  it  would  be  natural 
to  suppose  that  they  would  interest  themselves  in 
really  knowing  something  about  it.  But  they 
didn't,  in  a  scientific  sense. 

The  excuse  could  not  be  made  that  the  practice 
of  drinking  alcohol  is  either  limited  or  sporadic. 
There  has  been  plenty  of  opportunity  for  observa- 
tion. The  lowest  order  of  savages  and  the  highest 
order  of  civilization  have  been  equally  devoted 
subjects  of  the  Great  Emperor.  And  human 
beings  ferment  and  drink  alcohol  wherever  grains 
and  fruits  grow.  None  have  been  too  low  in  in- 
telhgence  to  start  breweries  and  distilleries. 

There  has  been  no  lack  of  observation  or  of 
comment  on  the  effects  of  alcohol,  both  pro  and 
con,  and,  as  they  say  in  some  sections,  the  pro 

7 


8  ALCOHOL 


has  been  mostly  "con."  But  there  was  a  lack  of 
careful  and  intelligent  investigation.  Until  a  few 
years  ago  the  scientists  were  almost  as  ignorant  of 
the  really  important  facts  about  alcohol  as  were 
the  savages.  The  plain  truth  is  that  human  beings 
have  devoted  thirty  thousand  years  to  drinking 
alcohol  and  only  25  years  to  finding  out  what  its 
real  nature  is,  and  exactly  what  it  does  to  the 
organism. 

The  effects  of  excessive  drinking  always  have 
been  plain  enough  —  to  the  savage  as  well  as  to 
the  most  highly  cultivated.  Through  the  ages 
men  have  preached  against  drunkenness.  There 
have  been  moral  and  ethical  teachings  aplenty. 
Medical  men  long  have  known  that  heavy  drink- 
ing engenders  gout,  a  hob-nailed  liver,  "spleen," 
laboring  heart,  brittle  arteries,  ulcerated  stomach, 
and  many  other  serious  conditions. 

Yet  there  seems  to  be  a  natural  impulse  for 
narcotics  or  intoxicants.  It  is  not  the  taste  that 
appeals  —  at  least  not  in  the  beginning.  Every 
drinker  who  is  normal,  and  who  is  not  cursed 
with  an  alcohol  heredity,  is  forced  to  learn  to  like 
alcohol. 

This  impulse  towards  intoxicants  is  not  confined 
to   human   beings.     Insects    frequently   get   drunk 


THE     IGNORANCE    OF     300    CENTURIES         9 

by  indulgence  in  over-ripe  fruit  juices,  returning 
again  and  again  to  their  Dionysian  feast.  Wasps 
and  bees  often  become  wildly  excited  and  quarrel- 
some, finally  ending  their  orgy  by  crawling  away 
in  a  semi-somnolent  condition  to  sleep  until  the 
effect  passes.  Hens  and  chicks  eagerly  devour 
bread  soaked  in  whiskey  or  brandy. 

Elephants  and  dogs  frequently  acquire  fondness 
for  liquors.  Some  degenerate  dogs  drink  beer 
and  refuse  meat  when  both  are  offered  at  the 
same  time.  Darwin  records  the  case  of  a  baboon 
made  drunk  with  beer.  The  next  morning  his 
keeper  found  him  a  picture  of  dejection  and  woe, 
holding  his  head  tightly  after  the  fashion  of  a 
repentant  roysterer.  The  simian  showed  more 
sense  than  the  average  drinker,  however,  for  when 
he  was  again  offered  beer  he  refused  point  blank 
to  touch  it. 

While  the  impulse  for  intoxicants  may  be 
natural,  there^js  nqt^^^f^^dji^  of  alcohol  in  nature. 
Tf^'t^'^^tdf,  and  never  was  a  "naturaPpfoc 
Alcohol  is  formed  in  nature  only  as  an  excretion. 
It  is  the  garbage  of  vegetation,  the  discarded 
elements  of  decayed  plant  life.  It  is  food  only 
for  the  ferment  of  vinegar,  and  poison  for  every- 
thing else. 


10  ALCOHOL 


But  there  is  no  doubt  that  alcohol  is  the  chief 
factor  in  satisfying  a  universal  human  craving  for 
social  excitement.  Nothing  so  effectively  breaks 
down  reserve,  destroys  barriers,  takes  the  brakes 
off  restraint,  and  promotes  what  is  commonly 
called  a  good  time.  "Sociability"  has  much  to 
do  with  moderate  drinking,  for  the  habitual 
drunkard  cannot  long  continue  the  primrose  path 
in  solitary  state.  His  hunger  for  companionship 
is  quite  as  great  —  frequently  greater  —  than  his 
thirst  for  alcohol.  He  might  be  a  human  island, 
completely  surrounded  by  bottles  and  kegs  of 
booze,  and  yet  never  take  a  drink  by  himself. 
But  let  a  friend  drop  in,  and  immediately  he  feels 
an  imperative  need  for  spirituous  stimulation. 

Some  years  ago  Bellevue  and  allied  hospitals  in 
New  York  asked  246  patients:  "Why  did  you 
begin  drinking.'^"  The  reasons  assigned  were: 
Sociability,  52.5%;  trouble,  13%;  medical  use, 
9.3%;  occupation,  7%;  taught  by  elders,  7%; 
out  of  work,  5%;  unknown,  5%;  "to  be  thought 
sporty,"  1.2%. 

This  was  a  practical  and  not  a  scientific  inquiry, 
but  as  an  every-day  guide  the  figures  will  hold 
good  for  thousands  of  cases. 

What  does  alcohol  do  to  the  moderate  drinker.'* 


THE     IGNORANCE    OF     300    CENTURIES      11 


Until  yesterday  nobody  knew.  And  even  then 
the  highly  trained  and  specialized  mind  that  first 
took  up  the  scientific  study  of  alcohol  had  no 
particular  interest  in  it.  He  was  pursuing  a 
definite  course  of  investigation,  in  the  careful, 
methodical,  patient,  German  scientific  way,  and 
alcohol  crossed  his  path.  That  meant  he  had  to 
know  all  about  alcohol.  And  long  before  he  was 
ready  to  give  his  report  to  the  world  Dr.  Emil 
Kraepelin,  Professor  of  Mental  Diseases  in  the 
University  of  Munich,  probably  the  most  eminent 
living  authority  on  mental  and  nervous  diseases, 
had  proven  startling  facts. 

For  25  years  Dr.  Kraepelin  had  been  investigat- 
ing the  psychic  effects  produced  by  drugs  —  with 
the  end  of  securing  knowledge  of  the  incipient 
symptoms  and  processes  of  mental  diseases.  He 
was  led  to  undertake  studies  in  alcohol  in  order 
to  resolve  insanity  into  its  simple  elements.  Also, 
to  note  the  effects  of  liquor  on  heredity,  and  that 
disease  of  the  will  which  conduces  to  vice  and 
criminality. 

In  his  wonderfully-equipped  psychological  labora- 
tory, he  attempted  artificially  to  produce  upon 
normal  individuals  simple  sets  of  psychic  derange- 
ments, that  he  might  study  the  various  phenomena 


12  ALCOHOL 


in  their  beginning  and  development,  and  apply 
the  knowledge  so  gained  toward  curing  certain 
phases  of  mental  aberration.  He  used  for  this 
purpose  various  chemical  substances  —  caffeine, 
opium  and  its  derivatives,  bromin,  cocaine,  sul- 
phonal,  and  finally  our  old  friend  alcohol  — 
known  to  its  enemies  as  the  Demon  Rum.  The 
phenomena  produced  by  alcoholic  stimulants  were 
so  extremely  rich  and  startling  that  Kraepelin 
decided  to  devote  particular  attention  to  this 
poison. 

By  the  use  of  instruments  of  absolute  precision, 
which  could  not  be  coerced,  wheedled,  or  brow- 
beaten into  giving  unfair  decisions,  the  professor 
and  his  pupils,  many  of  whom  are  among  the  most 
eminent  scientists  in  the  world,  established  the 
fact  that  alcohol  caused  degeneration,  that  uni- 
formly it  affects  all  the  faculties.  And  the  higher 
and  more  involved  the  faculty,  the  more  definite 
and  measurable  the  effects.  Also  they  proved 
that  the  physiological  and  psychological  action  of 
alcohol  is  cumulative;  that  if  it  be  continually 
used,  even  in  small  doses,  harm  is  increasingly 
manifested;  the  powers  of  coordination  are 
impaired,  and  the  destruction  of  tissues  and 
protoplasm  hastened. 


Chapter  III 
WHEN  IS  A  MAN  DRUNK? 

THERE  is  wide  difference  of  opinion  among 
authorities  as  to  just  when  a  man  is  drunk. 
This  also  varies  considerably  with  locality.  For 
instance,  in  Boston  a  man  is  intoxicated  when  he 
cannot  offhand  name  the  ten  decisive  battles  of 
the  world,  and  define  pragmatism  in  fifteen  words. 
In  New  York  a  man  is  intoxicated  when  he  him- 
self acknowledges  it.  And  in  other  parts  of  the 
country  they  cheerfully  maintain  that  a  man  is 
never  drunk  until  he  falls  down,  can't  get  up, 
and  has  to  hang  to  the  ground  to  keep  from 
rolling  off  the  earth. 

But  scientists  say  that  a  man  is  under  the 
influence  of  liquor  when  the  limits  of  his  muscular 
or  mental  speed  or  endurance  have  suffered  diminu- 
tion as  a  result  of  his  having  imbibed.  For  one  of 
the  first  things  the  scientists  found  out  when  they 
commenced  to  measure  drunkenness  and  its  effects, 
was  that  every  man  who  drank  any  appreciable 

13 


14  ALCOHOL 


measure  of  alcohol  was  drunk  —  in  degree,  for 
two  or  three  days  afterward.  Dr.  Kraepelin  and 
his  confreres  proved  conclusively  that  alcohol  is  a 
narcotic,  first,  last,  and  always;  that  the  stimula- 
tion supposed  to  be  derived  from  its  use  is  purely 
an  imaginary  stimulation;  and  that  one  does  less 
and  poorer  work  under  its  influence,  although, 
curiously  enough,  he  thinks  he  is  turning  out  more 
and  better  work  than  usual. 

With  the  calm  unbias  of  the  true  scientist,  the 
alienist,  working  with  precise  instruments,  set  out  to 
measure  drunkenness  as  definitely  as  one  would 
weigh  salt  or  determine  the  distance  between  two 
points. 

And  he  did  just  that.  Not  with  individual 
persons  so  much  as  with  the  individual  as  an 
average  unit  of  a  mass.  In  other  words,  after  the 
method  of  a  life-insurance  statistician,  who  can 
accurately  prognosticate  just  how  many  men  out 
of  a  group  may  be  alive  at  the  expiration  of  ten 
years,  while  he  would  fail  in  pointing  out  the 
individuals.  On  this  basis  Kraepelin  secured  re- 
sults which  have  since  been  duplicated  thousands 
of  times  in  the  great  physiological  and  psychological 
laboratories  of  the  world. 

The    professor    and    his    coworkers    have    also 


WHEN    IS    A    MAN    DRUNK?  15 

demonstrated  that  it  is  not  the  fourth  or  fifth 
drink  that  intoxicates:  it  is  the  sum  of  the  first, 
second,  and  third,  and  they  were  also  able  further 
to  fix  the  effect  of  the  first  with  startling  accu- 
racy. 

And  remember,  all  the  subjects  of  these  investi- 
gations were  men  habituated  to  drinking.  In 
fact,  there  are  hardly  any  other  kind  in  Europe; 
in  Germany  or  Bavaria,  at  any  rate.  For,  the 
Bavarian,  German,  Swedish,  Danish,  and  Dutch 
subjects  selected  by  the  dispassionate  professors 
were  anything  but  total  abstainers.  They  are, 
always  have  been,  and  in  all  probability  always 
will  be  drinkers,  as  their  fathers  and  grandfathers 
before  them  have  been.  And  in  all  likelihood  their 
children  will  follow,  unthinking  and  sheeplike,  in 
their  father's  alcoholic  footsteps. 

Now,  it  would  be  altogether  too  much  to  expect 
a  man  who  has  taken  only  one  or  two  ordinary 
familiar  drinks  to  realize  that  he  is  drunk  —  to  a 
definite,  measurable,  and  analyzable  degree.  He 
may  not  know  he  is  drunk,  but  those  little  clocks, 
intricate  wheels,  and  serene  mechanical  devices  of 
the  laboratory  will  know  it.  There  is  no  guess- 
work or  hallucination  about  it.  There  is  no  hyp- 
notizing   a     writing     balance,     psychologizing    an 


16  ALCOHOL 


ergograph,  or  bamboozling  a  memory  test.  There 
is,  on  the  contrary,  a  ruthless  uniformity  in 
the  results.  The  decision  they  render  is  final. 
Attempts  to  disprove  them  but  increase  their 
emphasis  and  insistency. 

A  group  of  men,  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  the  tests,  who  understood  only  that  they  were 
expected  to  persist  to  the  limit  of  their  endurance, 
were  shown  to  be  capable  of  a  definite  average 
quantity  of  work.  This  average  was  determined 
with  almost  mathematical  certainty  by  experiments 
made  dozens  of  times,  under  absolutely  similar 
conditions  as  regarded  time  of  day,  food,  exercise, 
and  surroundings. 

Now,  an  excellent  index  of  the  degree  of  a  man's 
capability  for  work  is  the  weight  he  can  continue 
to  lift  with  the  index  finger.  So  the  ergograph,  a 
celebrated  laboratory  device  invented  by  Professor 
Angelo  Mosso,  was  brought  into  requisition.  In 
manipulating  this  testing  machine  the  fingers  were 
clenched  around  a  wooden  peg,  all  but  the  index 
finger,  and  the  arm  held  immovable  by  being 
clamped  to  the  arm  of  a  chair.  A  weight  of 
several  kilograms  (a  kilogram  equals  35.2736 
ounces),  suspended  by  a  small  rope  that  passed 
over  a  pulley,  was  raised  and  lowered  by  this  index 


WHEN    IS    A    MAN    DRUNK  ?  17 

finger,  until  the  subjects  were  forced  to  desist  from 
exhaustion.  This  process  was  repeated  twelve 
times,  with  intervening  rests  of  a  minute.  Each 
pull  was  automatically  recorded  by  a  pencil  on  a 
strip  of  paper,  registered  by  a  line.  The  sum  of 
the  lengths  of  all  the  lines  was  translated  into 
"meter  kilograms,"  which  meant  the  work  accom- 
plished by  the  index  finger  in  raising  one  kilogram 
one  meter  (39.37  inches)  against  the  pull  of  gravity. 

These  experiments  were  made  ten  times  a  day, 
and  the  total  average  for  each  man  calculated  for 
a  number  of  days,  under  conditions  of  absolute 
abstention  from  drink.  Then  the  men  were  given 
a  "good  glass"  of  Bordeaux  wine,  or,  to  insure 
uniformity  in  dosage,  its  alcoholic  equivalent  — 
about  one-third  of  an  ounce  of  alcohol  freely  diluted 
in  water  —  after  each  meal,  and  the  experiments 
repeated. 

The  consequences  were  a  diminution  in  the  sub- 
jects' ability  to  withstand  the  fatigue  of  weight 
lifting,  amounting  to  an  average  of  from  7.6% 
to  8%.  These  experiments  were  repeated  hun- 
dreds of  times  by  scientists  in  various  parts  of 
Europe,  and  always  with  similar  results.  In  every 
instance  a  definite,  measurable  loss  in  muscular 
efficiency  was  demonstrated. 


18  ALCOHOL 


Professor  L.  Schnyder,  of  Berne,  testing  this  on 
himself  with  Kraepelin's  ergograph,  found  that 
when  he  took  no  alcohol  he  could  lift  the  weight 
with  the  nn'ddle  finger  of  his  right  hand  an  average 
of  240  times  in  12  groups  of  tests. 

However,  after  taking  28.4  grams  of  alcohol, 
the  amount  contained  in  about  one  and  one-half 
pints  of  beer,  or  a  man's  size  glass  of  whiskey, 
he  was  able  to  lift  the  weight  only  an  average  of 
191  times. 

Similar  tests,  made  in  various  forms  of  muscle 
work,  show  that  there  was  a  loss  of  8%  to  10% 
in  work  values  on  the  days  when  the  workers 
drank  a  half  pint  of  wine,  the  alcoholic  content  of 
which  would  equal  that  of  a  pint  or  a  pint  and  a 
half  of  beer.  So  it  would  seem  that  it  needs  no 
ghost  returned  from  the  tomb  to  prophesy  that  a 
belief  in  the  strengthening  and  supporting  qualities 
of  alcohol  will  eventually  become  as  obsolete  as 
belief  in  witchcraft. 

Professor  Durig,  an  expert  mountain  climber, 
was  sure  that  alcohol  stimulates.  He  determined 
to  prove  it  in  his  own  case.  The  experiment  he 
set  for  himself  was  to  climb  to  the  summit  of  Mt. 
Bilkencrat,  in  the  Alps,  8000  feet  above  sea  level. 
He  "packed"  the  same  amount  of  weight  on  each 


WHEN    IS    A    MAN    DRUNK?  19 

trip,  and  carried  instruments  which  enabled  him 
to  measure  exactly  how  much  bodily  energy  he 
was  expending,  the  amount  of  muscle  work 
achieved,  and  the  period  of  time  required. 

He  obtained  an  average  of  all  these  in  several 
tests  made  under  abstinent  conditions.  Then,  for 
a  similar  number  of  tests,  each  day,  before  begin- 
ning his  climb,  he  took  the  alcoholic  equivalent  of 
two  and  one-third  glasses,  of  beer.  The  result,  to 
his  complete  surprise,  was  that,  although  the 
instruments  indicated  that  he  had  expended  15  % 
more  energy  than  on  abstinent  days,  his  watch 
indicated  that  it  had  required  21.7%  longer  for 
him  to  reach  the  mountain  top  than  on  the  days 
he  had  abstained.  The  actual  work  done,  com- 
puted in  foot  pounds,  averaged  16.4%  less  than 
on  alcohol  days. 

Having  shown  these  effects  on  resistance  to 
fatigue,  learned  professors  advanced  to  the  con- 
sideration of  principles  involving  combined  muscu- 
lar and  mental  processes.  They  used  the  "writing 
balance,"  invented  by  Professor  KraepeHn,  and 
constructed  by  the  skillful  instrument  maker, 
Runne,  at  Heidelberg.  This  ingenious  contrivance 
had  attached  to  it  a  fifth-second  chronometer, 
which  automatically  registered  time  on  a  rotating 


20  ALCOHOL 


drum  covered  with  carbon  paper.  On  the  record 
obtained  in  this  manner  the  time  required  in  writ- 
ing a  set  of  characters  can  be  computed  with  an 
error  of  less  than  one  two-hundredth  of  a  second. 
The  unit  of  time  on  which  the  trials  were  based 
was  called  a  "zeta,"  and  corresponded  to  one 
one-hundredth  of  a  second. 

The  daily  exercises  began  at  8  a.m.  The  sub- 
ject's scientifically  sober  hand  was  connected  with 
the  apparatus,  and  the  figures  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8, 
9,  10  were  written  twice  with  pencil  at  top  speed. 
Then  the  sequence  reversed — 10,  9,  8,  7,  6,  etc. — 
was  twice  written;  then  the  German  letters  "inm," 
also  twice.  These  were  repeated  ten  times,  and 
the  total  average  time  consumed  by  each  man  was 
measured.  Then  he  received  his  allotment  of  wine, 
as  with  the  ergograph  experiments. 

After  5  minutes  the  subjects  resumed  their 
writing,  with  instructions  to  carry  out  their  ap- 
pointed task  in  scribbling  as  before.  They  proved 
that,  while  the  spirit  was  willing,  the  flesh,  and  its 
controlling  nerve  pulses,  were  weakened.  Every 
man  of  them  measurably  had  slowed  up.  The 
degree  of  retardation,  after  writing  1  to  10  under 
the  influence  of  the  small  amount  of  alcohol  ad- 
ministered (about  what  the  ordinary  drinker  would 


WHEN    IS    A    MAN    DRUNK?  21 

take  with  his  dinner),  amounted  to  5.6%.  In 
writing  10  to  1  the  retardation  was  greater, 
amounting  to  7%.  This  was  accounted  for  by 
the  increasing  complexity  of  the  stunt;  it  being  a 
more  unusual  combination  than  the  straight  pro- 
gression of  numbers.  With  the  "inm"  the  de- 
viation from  normal  was  even  more  apparent, 
averaging  7.3%.  Again  and  again  these  same 
general  results  were  secured;  though  new  crews 
were  used  for  each  demonstration. 

Similar  results  followed  in  the  coordination  tests, 
where  the  subject  was  required  to  "snap  down" 
a  telegraphic  switch  at  the  unexpected  flash  of  a 
light  or  sound  of  a  gong;  the  time  elapsing  between 
flashing  the  light  or  striking  the  gong  and  closing 
the  switch  being  measured  by  the  "zeta"  chro- 
nometer. In  every  case  the  rapidity  of  the  co- 
ordinating responses  was  decreased  from  6%  to 
8.3%.  If  this  happened  to  a  locomotive  engineer 
who,  at  a  flash  of  a  red  hght  around  a  curve,  was 
required  instantly  to  close  a  throttle  and  reverse  a 
lever,  it  might  retard  mental  and  physical  response 
just  long  enough  to  cause  him  to  pile  his  train  in 
the  ditch. 

For  the  next  experiment  a  number  of  accountants 
of    all    grades    were    selected,    and    their    average 


22  ALCOHOL 


ability  to  add  one-figure  columns  was  estimated  for 
one  week.  They  were  then  given  daily,  in  divided 
doses,  the  alcoholic  equivalent  of  a  pint  of  light 
beer.  A  marked  and  progressive  diminution  in 
their  output  was  noticed,  beginning  with  3.1  % 
the  first  day.  After  2  weeks  of  this  steady 
moderate  alcoholic  allowance  the  percentage  in- 
creased to  15.3.  With  these  facts  and  figures  in 
mind  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  determine  the 
whys  and  wherefores  of  the  relatively  slow  and 
errorful  Monday  morning's  accounting  and  bal- 
ancing. 

Similar  experiments  were  then  tried  on  type- 
setters. These  were  required  to  set  type  from 
printed  pages  (to  insure  absolute  uniformity  of 
copy),  the  total  number  of  "ems"  a  day  being 
computed  for  a  week.  Then,  with  daily  gentle- 
manly drinks  —  the  kind  that  millions  of  moderate 
drinkers  take  every  day  because  they  like  it,  or 
because  they  beheve  it  benefits  them  —  the  type- 
setters lost  an  average  of  9.6  %  in  efficiency  by  the 
end  of  the  week.  And  these  particular  typesetters 
differ  not  the  slightest  from  thousands  of  other 
typesetters,  printers,  typewriters,  and  linotype  oper- 
ators all  over  the  world. 

A  similar  experiment  was  made  upon  four  type- 


WHEN    IS    A    MAN    DRUNK?  23 

setters  in  a  printing  office  in  Heidelberg,  Germany. 
The  trials  were  carried  on  for  four  successive  days, 
an  hour  a  day  being  devoted  to  each.  On  the 
first  and  third  day  no  alcohol  was  given;  on  the 
second  and  fourth  days  the  work  was  done  after 
the  typesetters  each  had  received  three-fourths  of 
a  tumbler  of  Greek  wine  (18%  alcohol). 

It  was  found  that  alcohol  used  in  this  quantity 
decreased  the  amount  of  work  done  by  an  average 
of  9%.  It  is  further  interesting  to  note  that  if 
this  same  loss  held  for  a  whole  day's  work,  a  man 
earning  $15.00  a  week,  when  abstinent,  would  be 
capable  of  earning  only  $13.65  per  week  if  he 
drank  so  much  alcohol  as  would  be  contained  in 
the  average  drinker's  daily  quart  of  beer. 

In  addition  to  the  loss  in  the  total  amount  of 
work  done  on  days  when  alcohol  was  given,  it  was 
also  demonstrated  that  the  number  of  errors  was 
increased. 

In  the  beginning  the  investigators  obviously 
wrote  the  simplest  and  most  practical  tests.  As 
the  experimenters  gradually  worked  up  to  the  more 
complex  mental  processes  the  decrease  in  efficiency 
became  much  more  noticeable.  This  was  particu- 
larly marked  in  the  memory  tests  conducted  by 
Professor   Kraepelin    and    one    of   his   pupils.    Dr. 


15  un^. 


24  ALCOHOL 


Kiirtz,  which  demanded  committing  to  memory 
for  a  half-hour  every  morning  as  many  twelve- 
place  figures  as  was  possible  for  each  subject  to 
remember.  The  students  would  curl  their  legs 
round  the  chairs,  chew  the  ends  of  their  pencils, 
look  up  at  the  ceiling,  and  mumble  "one  six 
nine,  eight  seven  three,  two  one  eight,  one  six 
two,"  or  some  other  group  of  12  numbers,  until 
they  could  say  them  without  effort.  They  would 
then  tackle  the  next  group,  committing  as  many 
twelve-number  sets  to  memory  as  was  possible  in 
the  course  of  a  half-hour,  repeating  each  set  in  a 
whisper  to  a  mentor  seated  beside  them.  This 
was  carried  out  for  a  fortnight,  after  which  their 
average  was  computed. 

Then  the  subjects  were  given,  each  morning,  just 
about  what  would  be  considered  a  good  "eye 
opener."  Immediately  they  dropped  behind  in 
their  studies.  The  next  2  weeks  showed  an  average 
reduction  of  6.2%  in  the  number  of  twelve-place 
figures  committed  to  memory. 

Kraepelin  also  supplemented  his  arithmetical 
experiments  with  a  series  of  practical  tests  upon 
accountants.  A  dozen  clerks  were  given  a  number 
of  sums  in  compound  addition.  Each  was  provided 
with  a  stop-watch,  which  he  started  the  instant  he 


WHEN     IS    A     MAN     DRUNK?  25 

began  working  his  sums,  and  stopped  when  he 
had  finished.  The  average  time  required  was  thus 
estimated  for  each  man. 

A  glass  of  wine  was  then  given,  and  the  work 
was  resumed  on  an  equal  number  of  sums  of  a 
like  number  of  figures.  Out  of  the  first  12  men 
tested,  11  were  an  average  of  14%  slower.  And 
the  twelfth,  though  slightly  faster,  had  such  a 
large  percentage  of  errors  that  his  record  had  to 
be  ehminated. 

These  experiments  were  repeated  again  and 
again,  employing  different  sets  of  clerks,  but  in- 
variably the  results  were  the  same:  the  lengthen- 
ing of  the  time  required  to  perform  the  work,  and 
an  increase,  frequently  of  disastrous  proportions, 
in  the  number  of  errors  in  the  sums. 

Not  the  least  interesting  feature  in  all  this  work 
was  the  absolute  uniformity  in  results.  The  reports 
in  one  series  were  never  forwarded  until  the  con- 
clusion of  the  experiments  in  another  psychological 
clinic.  Then  these  were  compared.  Their  con- 
sistency was  startling. 

All  these  demonstrations  deal  only  with  moderate 
indulgence  in  alcohol,  such  indulgence  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  say  is  "good  for  a  man,"  "helps 
him  to  do  his  work,"  or  "stimulates  his  mental 


26  ALCOHOL 


activity."  If  the  deviation  is  increased  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  administered,  it  is  probable  that 
the  cautious  professors  would  have  to  use  a  yard- 
stick or  a  table  of  logarithms  in  order  to  compute 
the  delinquency. 


Chapter  IV 
MORE   TRUTH  ABOUT   THE  DEMON  RUM 

AND  so  we  have  reinterpreted  drunkenness. 
We  have  found  a  new  definition  for  the  word 
"intoxicated."  We  have  a  new  standard  for 
recognizing  inebriety.  Not  by  the  flushed  face,  the 
lack-luster  eye,  the  staggering  gait,  the  incoherent 
rambling  talk;  not  by  the  general  aspect  of  help- 
lessness and  stupidity  which  envelops,  like  a  murky 
aura,  one  who  has  partaken  unwisely  and  unwell 
of  "that  perilous  stuff  that  doth  weigh  upon  the 
heart"  —  and  all  the  other  internal  organs  —  as 
well  as  the  blood  vessels.  But  by  means  infinitely 
more  accurate.  j^ 

For  we  can  now  determine  to  the  fraction  of  a 
per  cent  just  how  drunk  a  man  is,  just  how  far 
his  mental  and  physical  capacities  deviate  from 
his  normal.  We  know,  by  a  system  of  mensuration 
as  accurate  as  a  pair  of  scales,  as  unemotional  as  a 
peck  measure,  exactly  how  intoxicated  is  one  who 
has   had    only    what   he   always   thought   was   an 

27 


28  ALCOHOL 


*' ordinary"  drink,  but  which,  since  we  are  be- 
ginning to  understand  what  it  does,  now  proves 
to  be  an  extraordinary  drink  —  a  drink  fraught 
with  such  potentiahties,  so  subtly  and  effectually 
concealed,  that  its  actual  effects  upon  the  organism 
are  a  source  of  perennial  amazement  to  the  scien- 
tists who  are  devoting  the  best  part  of  their  lives 
to  its  study. 

The  experiments  of  Dr.  Fuerer  and  Professor 
Smith  indicated  that  an  intoxication  too  slight 
to  be  recognizable  decreased  the  capacity  to 
memorize,  to  correlate  ideas  and  association  to  as 
late  as  the  third  day  after  taking  alcohol.  This, 
mind  you,  in  ordinary  doses.  The  subjects  were 
not  suffering  from  blood-shot  eyes,  horrible  kat- 
zen jammers,  nauseated  and  rebellious  stomachs, 
irritated  alimentary  canals,  and  laboring  hearts. 

Had  they  been,  we  could  more  readily  compre- 
hend why  it  might  take  even  a  week  thoroughly 
"to  get  over"  them.  To  all  outward  physical 
appearances  they  were  absolutely  normal.  But, 
just  as  stars  exist,  visible  to  us  only  with  the 
highest  powered  telescopes,  just  as  bacterial  life 
exists  which  is  brought  into  the  ken  of  conscious- 
ness only  by  the  microscopic  lens;  just  as  there  are 
sounds  we  cannot  hear  except  with  the  microphone; 


THE    DEMON    RUM  29 

just  SO  definite  phenomena  of  alcohol  exist,  the 
degrees  of  which  are  not  only  measurable  by  trained 
observation,  but  whose  gross  effects,  as  applied  to 
work  output,  are  plain  as  a  pike  staff. 

At  first,  however,  the  results  astonish  even  the 
most  blase.     Dr.  Fuerer  frankly  declared: 

"When  I  began  my  experiments  I  had  no  sus- 
picion of  the  results  I  should  come  to,  and  even 
during  their  course  I  was  certain  that  no  consider- 
able effects  could  be  attained.  When  I  learned 
the  true  state  of  things  I  was  surprised  —  and 
frightened."  This  has  been  the  experience  of 
most  men  first  becoming  familiar  with  Barleycorn's 
cell-bludgeonings . 

In  his  report  Dr.  Fuerer  emphasizes  particularly 
the  enormous  waste  in  work  values  and  economic 
efficiency  as  a  result  of  the  ordinary  or  moderate 
use  of  alcoholic  drink.  We  shall  consider  this 
interesting  and  important  phase  of  the  subject 
later. 

This  disconnecting  of  the  memory  plugs  by  that 
nimble-fingered  operator,  John  Barleycorn,  is  one 
of  the  most  serious  results  of  intemperance.  Cases 
are  frequently  reported  in  which  certain  alcohol- 
soaked  individuals  would  actually  forget  all  they 
had    seen    or   heard    even    a   few    seconds    before. 


30  ALCOHOL 


Five  minutes  after  extremely  painful  surgical 
operations  many  of  these  patients  have  no  recollec- 
tion of  what  has  taken  place,  and  have  not  the 
remotest  idea  why  they  are  in  bed.  In  fact,  it 
might  be  observed  that  they  would  make  ideal 
witnesses,  inasmuch  as  what  they  don't  know  or 
don't  remember  would  be  the  extreme  limits  of 
sufficiency. 

The  beginnings  of  this  memory  crumbling  have 
been  demonstrated  experimentally  by  Dr.  R.  Vogt, 
of  the  University  of  Christiana.  During  7  months 
alternating  experiments  in  memorizing  25  lines  of 
Homer  were  made  with  and  without  alcohol. 
The  time  required  for  repetition  without  mistake 
averaged  18%  longer  during  the  alcohol  periods 
than  during  the  abstinent  days. 

The  amount  of  alcohol  given  was  25  c.c, 
corresponding  to  about  a  half  pint  of  4%  beer. 
When  the  system  had  accustomed  itself  to  alcohol 
—  in  other  words,  when  the  abnormal  condition 
became  the  condition  normal  to  the  subject  because 
alcohol  toleration  was  established  —  the  difference 
in  memorizing  ability  was  reduced  to  between  5  % 
and  7  %  longer  —  the  alcohol  being  taken  after 
breakfast. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  drink  was  taken 


THE    DEMON    RUM  31 

before  breakfast  —  "on  an  empty  stomach"  — 
the  lengthening  of  the  required  memory  period 
went  up  to  69%!  Which  seems  to  be  a  pretty 
strong  argument  for  not  beginning  the  day  with  a 
drink. 

However,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features 
connected  with  these  studies  was  developed  by 
38  of  these  daily  memorizations  being  repeated 
after  107  and  108  days.  This  elicited  the  startling 
fact  that  the  time  required  to  recall  the  memorized 
lines  was  uniformly  and  invariably  greater  in  the 
case  of  those  stanzas  learned  on  alcohol  days!  In 
other  words,  not  only  does  it  take  a  longer  time 
to  fix  impressions  when  alcohol  is  used,  but  the 
impression  itself,  made  while  the  system  is  enter- 
taining a  gentlemanly  drink,  is  not  so  permanent 
and  durable. 

Perhaps  the  most  convincing  observations,  in 
connection  with  the  Munich  experiments,  was 
concerned  in  the  free  "association  of  ideas."  To 
illustrate:  If  the  name  of  an  object  is  spoken, 
immediately  one  thinks  of  something  in  connection 
with  that  object.  Professor  Kraepelin's  subjects 
were  requested  to  write  these  down,  enumerating 
as  many  associated  objects  as  occurred  to  them  in 
the  space  of  5  minutes.     Two  words  were  given 


32  ALCOHOL 


out  at  each  session,  5  minutes  being  allotted  to 
each  subject.  This  was  repeated  at  intervals 
during  the  day  for  10  days,  and  the  average  num- 
ber of  suggested  things  reckoned  up.  Then  each 
evening  preceding  the  next  10  days  a  generous 
"nightcap"  was  given,  and  the  results  of  the 
following  10  days'  "association"  computed.  A 
loss  in  coordinating  power  in  this  series  amounted 
to  as  high  as  27%. 

This  was  a  remarkably  convincing  demonstration, 
and  proves  conclusively  that  one  who  drinks  much 
is  living  only  a  small  part  of  his  normal  life;  for 
his  brain  is  narcotized  —  partly  paralyzed  by  the 
action  of  liquor. 

In  testing  out  the  association  of  ideas,  it  was 
established  that  the  most  valuable  and  pertinent 
association  of  ideas  diminish  on  the  days  following 
the  small  dose  of  alcohol  —  diminish  from  11.03% 
to  as  high  as  46.08%. 

The  experiments  embraced  1350  idea  associations. 
The  quantity  of  alcohol  corresponded  to  the  alco- 
holic content  of  from  one-half  to  one  bottle  of 
light  wine  daily,  or  2  to  4  pints  of  ordinary  beer. 
But  if  one  be  an  accountant,  or  engaged  in  any 
work  requiring  accuracy,  quick  perception,  correla- 
tion of  ideas,  or  memory  of  numbers,  names,  and 


THE    DEMON    RUM  33 

facts  —  it  is  enough  to  result  in  his  being  able  to 
give  his  employer  only  from  89%  to  as  low  as 
44%  of  his  normal,  undrugged  efficiency. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  Dr.  J.  J.  Ridge,  an 
English  physiologist,  made  a  series  of  experiments 
which  points  conclusions  of  tremendous  impor- 
tance to  railroad  men.  He  selected  a  group  of  10 
medical  students,  nurses,  and  porters.  Placing  a 
row  of  letters  at  the  end  of  a  corridor,  he  had  each 
member  of  the  group  walk  slowly  from  the  other 
end  until  the  letters  could  be  read,  changing,  of 
course,  the  sequence  of  the  letters  in  each  case. 
A  chalk-mark  was  drawn  upon  the  floor,  to  indi- 
cate the  spot  from  which  the  furthest  degree  of 
vision  in  each  person's  case  was  possible,  and  each 
individual's  initial  was  marked  beside  it. 

He  then  supplied  his  subjects  with  beer  in 
quantities  which  ranged  from  half  a  pint  to  as 
small  an  amount  as  one-sixteenth  of  a  pint  —  which 
not  even  the  most  captious  critic  would  claim  an 
excessive  quantity. 

On  repeating  the  test,  it  was  found  that  in  no 
single  instance  could  any  of  the  victims  read  the 
letters  from  the  spot  where  they  had  originally 
stood.  All  had  to  move  closer.  In  none  of  the 
group  was  there  any  improvement. 


34  ALCOHOL 


Professor  Kraepelin,  checking  up  these  experi- 
ments of  Dr.  Ridge,  found  that,  on  an  average, 
a  man  who  had  taken  a  fluid  ounce  of  alcohol  a 
half -hour  afterward  had  to  approach  to  20  feet  in 
order  to  read  letters  he  had  previously  read  at  a 
distance  of  30  feet.  The  effect  in  diminished 
vision,  he  found,  lasted  for  from  4  to  5  hours  after 
drinking. 

Another  experiment  of  especial  interest  to  rail- 
road men,  concerned  the  rapidity  with  which  visual 
images  could  be  perceived,  and  also  the  "time 
reaction"  —  quickness  and  accuracy  —  of  the  re- 
sponse thereto. 

Dr.  Kraepelin  stationed  each  member  of  a  group 
of  men  in  turn  a  little  distance  from  a  screen, 
from  behind  which  a  colored  flag  was  suddenly 
erected.  The  raising  of  the  flag  started  a  split- 
second  stop-watch. 

They  were  directed  to  press  a  button,  which, 
by  means  of  electricity,  stopped  the  watch,  and  so 
recorded  the  length  of  time  it  required  to  perceive 
the  flag,  decide  its  color,  and  press  the  proper 
button  to  designate  that  color. 

Each  man's  average  under  abstinent  conditions 
was  thus  estimated.  He  was  then  given  a  glass 
of  light  wine.    After  a  short  interval,  to  permit 


THE    DEMON    RUM  35 

absorption  of  the  alcohol,  the  experiments  were 
repeated.  The  results,  after  taking  alcohol,  showed 
that  in  every  case  the  men  tested  were  from  6% 
to  13%  slower  in  responding.  Also,  errors  in 
determining  the  proper  color  of  the  flags  were 
materially  increased. 

In  another  test  figures,  letters,  and  words  were 
made  to  pass  quickly  before  the  eyes  of  a  group  of 
subjects,  who  were  asked  to  write  down  what  they 
saw.  After  alcohol  had  been  taken,  they  failed 
frequently  to  perceive  all  the  characters  that  shot 
by,  and  invariably  they  made  more  mistakes  in 
enumerating  them. 

The  effect  of  alcohol  on  mental  quickness  in 
answering  signals  has  been  carefully  studied. 
For  example,  tests  were  made  in  which  subjects 
were  required  to  decide  which  of  two  motions  to 
make  at  a  given  signal,  as  an  engineer,  when  a 
red  light  flashes  out  on  the  track  before  him,  must 
decide  in  the  fraction  of  a  second  the  action  which 
will  guide  his  train  and  passengers  to  safety. 

The  tests  were  made  thus:  If  a  green  flag 
showed,  the  individual  tested  was  required  to  press 
an  electric  button  at  his  right;  if  a  red  flag,  he 
must  press  the  button  at  the  left.  For  a  short 
time   after   taking    the    small    amount    of    alcohol 


36  ALCOHOL 


contained  in  a  bottle  of  claret,  he  pressed  the 
button  more  quickly,  but  he  was  much  more 
likely  to  press  the  wrong  one.  He  made  more 
mistakes.  Increasing  the  amount  of  alcohol  slowed 
up  the  time  of  response,  and  markedly  increased 
the  number  of  errors. 

This  shows  the  danger  a  drinking  man  may  be 
in  any  business  requiring  rapid  giving,  receiving, 
and  answering  of  signals,  for  alcohol  slows  the 
correct  reading  of  signals,  and  invariably  increases 
the  liability  to  make  mistakes.  It  is  partly  for 
this  reason  that  so  many  American  railroads 
require  abstinence  on  the  part  of  all  train  opera- 
tives. 

These  studies  prove  that  alcohol  is  depressant, 
anaesthetic,  and  narcotic.  Its  effects  on  the 
sensory  and  motor  nerves  are  to  diminish  acuteness 
and  pervert  activity.  Sending  the  blood  to  the 
head  and  surging  through  the  brain  with  increased 
velocity  is  not  increased  vigor,  but  increased 
irritation,  which  comes  just  before  anaesthesia  and 
diminution  of  power.  In  other  words,  the  drinker 
deludes  himself.  He  only  thinks  he  is  thinking; 
for  his  very  first  drink  has  produced  a  definite, 
measurable  degree  of  intoxication. 

Dr.  Johnson  may  have  been  right  when  he  said 


THE    DEMON    RUM  37 

that  "wine  makes  a  man  pleased  with  himself, 
which  is  no  small  matter."  But  the  man  doesn't 
"please*'  the  stoical  ergograph,  the  smug  "writing 
balance,"  the  sturdy  tables  of  figures,  and  the 
memory  and  association  processes. 

Indeed,  it  seems  quite  clear  that  if  a  man  has 
any  brains  worth  preserving,  alcohol  is  the  poorest 
preservative  he  could  possibly  pick  out  to  use. 


y^ 


Chapter  V 
ALCOHOL  AND  CHILDREN 

THERE  is  no  question  of  the  earnestness, 
honesty,  and  sincerity  of  Professor  Karl 
Pearson,  of  the  Galton  Laboratory  of  Eugenics, 
University  of  London.  Professor  Pearson  collated 
reports  on  the  height  and  weight,  health,  intelli- 
gence, eyesight,  and  death  rate  among  school 
children  in  various  cities  of  Great  Britain,  and,  to 
his  own  satisfaction  at  least,  proved  that  the 
children  of  drinking  parents  were  taller  and  heavier, 
had  better  general  health,  more  intelligence,  keener 
eyesight,  and  a  lower  death  rate  than  the  children 
of  non-drinking  parents. 

And  yet,  against  this  we  have  the  evidence  of 
hundreds  of  equally  qualified  observers,  who  insist 
that  it  is  a  crime  to  give  children  wine  or  beer,  and 
that  the  dreadful  neurasthenia  of  modern  times  is 
due  chiefly  to  this  early  use  of  alcohol. 

Science  now  contends  that  many  an  alcohol- 
cursed   career  had   its   foundation   in   the   nursing 

39 


40  ALCOHOL 


stage,  for  the  tender  babe,  at  the  most  impres- 
sionable period  of  its  hfe,  imbibes  alcohol  from 
its  mother's  breast.  It  has  been  proved,  again 
and  again,  that  alcohol  is  present  in  the  milk 
when  the  mother  has  taken  spirituous  beverages 
in  excess. 

The  appetite  for  liquor  implanted  by  the  mother 

—  who  perhaps,  even  under  a  doctor's  direction, 
is  taking  ale  or  porter  to  "strengthen"  her  and 
increase  her  supply  of  milk  —  tends  ultimately  to 
make  her  child  an  inebriate  —  if  he  grows  to 
man's  estate. 

Breast-fed  infants,  nursed  by  mothers  who  use 
alcohol  oftener  have  convulsions,  are  more  restless 
and  irritable  than  infants  of  non-drinking  mothers 

—  all  of  which  symptoms  clear  up  when  the  mother 
is  induced  to  substitute  pure  milk  for  her  alcoholic 
potion.  Indeed,  Count  Deust,  the  Austrian  diplo- 
matist, when  an  infant,  lay  senseless  for  24  hours 
as  a  result  of  alcoholized  milk  from  a  wet-nurse. 
She  had  been  celebrating  his  birth  in  wine  pre- 
sented her  by  his  father. 

And  not  only  is  the  milk  of  the  mother  who 
drinks  drugged  with  alcohol,  but  it  has  been  found 
that  it  does  not  contain  the  proper  amounts  of 
protein,  fat,  sugar,   etc.,  and    therefore   it   is   not 


ALCOHOL    AND     CHILDREN  41 

SO  well  adapted  for  building  a  healthy  infant 
body. 

Professor  Hahnel  says:  "Among  Bavarians,  the 
greatest  beer-drinking  people  in  the  world,  300  out 
of  every  1000  babies  born  are  born  dead.  Each 
year  69,000  infants  die  before  they  are  12  months 
old.  Norwegian  mothers  had  as  many  dead  born 
babies  as  Bavarian  mothers  until  they  were  taught 
not  to  drink  alcoholic  liquors.  Now  they  lose  but 
80  or  90  out  of  1000  babies." 

Professor  Taav  Laitinen,  of  the  University  of  Hel- 
singfors,  reports  a  comparison  of  children  in  50  ab- 
staining and  59  drinking  families  in  one  village  in 
Finland.  In  the  abstaining  families,  the  weakly  chil- 
dren constituted  1.3%,  while  in  the  drinking  families 
they  constituted  8.2%.  Of  the  children  in  abstain- 
ing families,  18.5%  died  while  still  children,  while 
in  the  drinking  families  24.8%  died. 

Professor  Alfred  Gordon,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a 
study  of  117  alcoholic  families,  reported  that  in 
90  of  these  there  were  at  least  200  children,  all  of 
whom  evidenced  degeneracy.  One  hundred  and 
fifty,  or  75  %  of  the  whole  number,  were  epileptic. 
Of  78  children  found  in  20  families,  whose  grand- 
parents, as  well  as  whose  parents  were  alcoholists, 
35  were  imbeciles  and  25  insane. 


\cr\<\   ^anc^?/ 


42  ALCOHOL 


Professor  Bunge,  the  foremost  living  authority 
on  the  chemistry  of  nutrition,  has  shown,  by  most 
carefully  sifted  statistics,  that  the  inabihty  of 
many  mothers  to  nurse  their  children  is  one  of  the 
hereditary  results  of  alcoholism,  and  that  the  germ 
cell  of  alcoholic  parents  is  defective,  and  cannot 
evolve  a  normal  body.  This,  he  insists,  is  the 
reason  we  find  so  large  a  percentage  of  functional 
and  organic  diseases  among  children  of  drinking 
parents.  Indeed,  the  best  informed  diagnosticians 
of  Europe  and  America  are  firmly  convinced  that 
rickets,  decay  of  the  teeth,  scrofulous  glands,  and 
other  evidences  of  physical  degeneracy  are  due  in 
large  measure  to  the  use  of  alcohol,  either  by  the 
child  himself,  or  by  his  parents  before  his  birth. 
^The  great  Auguste  Voisin,  head  of  the  Sal- 
petriere,  Paris,  and  famous  the  world  over  as  an 
alienist,  proved  conclusively  that  these  children 
furnish  a  high  percentage  of  our  half-witted, 
criminal,  immoral,  and  insane  population,  and  also 
that  many  progeny  of  drinking  fathers  —  and  more 
particularly  of  drinking  mothers  —  are  struck, 
about  the  period  of  adolescence,  with  a  sudden 
abatement  of  their  mental  faculties.  They  seem 
normal  enough  until,  at  about  12  or  14  years  of 
age,  they  are   suddenly  taken,   without    apparent 


ALCOHOL    AND    CHILDREN  43 

reason,  with  a  mental  inertia  or  apathy,  and  an 
insensibihty  or  indifference  to  morahty.  Many  of 
them  become  mentally  defective,  which  condition 
remains  permanent. 

And  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe  found,  from  a  study 
of  the  family  history  of  300  Massachusetts  idiots, 
that  145  were  definitely  known  to  be  the  children 
of  habitual  drunkards. 

Indeed,  I  myself  am  convinced  that  our  morons 
—  grown  women,  whom  the  Binet  psychological 
tests  prove  to  have  only  the  mental  capacity  of 
12  or  13  year  old  girls,  and  from  whose  ranks 
prostitutes  are  largely  recruited  —  are  thus  cursed 
because  of  an  alcoholized  parentage.  This  also 
applies  to  our  gunmen  and  gangsters,  who  show 
similar  traits  of  mental  decadence  and  moron 
incapacity.    \ 

One  of  the  ablest  of  all  investigators  in  alcoholic 
phenomena  is  Professor  Demme  of  the  University 
of  Berne.  While  physician  to  the  Jener  Hospital 
for  children  at  Berne,  Dr.  Demme  studied  carefully 
the  effects  of  alcoholism  upon  his  charges.  He 
submitted  to  the  Christiana  Congress  a  series  of 
tests  made  upon  boys  between  the  ages  of  10  and 
15,  in  alternate  periods  of  wine  drinking  and  ab- 
stinence. 


44  ALCOHOL 


*  

In  May,  June,  July,  November,  and  December 
a  half  glass  of  red  wine  was  given  daily  (but  a 
third  of  a  glass,  to  the  younger  boys).  During 
February,  March,  April,  August,  September,  and 
October  nothing  but  water  was  permitted  to  be 
drunk. 

The  subjects  were  all  from  wine-drinking  families, 
and  were  accustomed,  almost  from  infancy,  to  the 
use  of  alcohol.  However,  it  was  found  that  in  the 
wine-drinking  periods  the  nervous  systems  of  these 
boys  were  less  stable,  and  they  were  more  excitable. 
They  slept  badly,  were  given  to  distressing  dreams, 
and  were  more  difficult  to  arouse  in  the  mornings. 
They  were  sluggish  and  indolent,  and  had  much 
more  difficulty  in  fixing  attention.  Finally  the 
boys  themselves  recognized  their  superior  comfort 
and  well-being  during  the  abstinent  periods,  and 
begged  that  they  be  excused  from  further  tests. 

In  his  very  interesting  report  Dr.  Demme  also 
refers  to  a  10  year  old  boy  who  suffered  from 
what  is  known  as  Korsakow  psychosis,  an  alcohol 
sickness,  the  most  striking  symptom  of  which  is  the 
almost  complete  obliteration  of  memory.  We  have 
rather  facetiously  set  the  high  water  mark  on 
mental  obfuscation  when  we  allege  of  an  individual 
that    "he   can't   even   remember   his   own   name." 


ALCOHOL    AND    CHILDREN  45 

But  this  pitiable  condition  was  literal  with  Dr. 
Demme's  subject.  The  little  patient  was  absolutely 
unable  to  recall  his  own  name,  let  alone  any  one 
else's  name,  which  he  would  from  time  to  time 
voluntarily  attempt  to  remember.  His  father,  it 
developed  on  examination,  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  giving  him  a  "strengthening"  dose  of  a  quarter 
of  a  bottle  of  Malaga  wine  daily. 

"When  this  stupid  abuse  of  innocent  childhood 
was  stopped  complete  memory  returned.  Luckily 
the  boy  had  not  been  "strengthened"  for  a  suffi- 
cient period  permanently  to  become  weakened. 

The  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  mind  and  memory 
of  the  child  is  equally  startling.  The  abstinent 
teachers  of  Holland  published  recently  a  series  of 
comparative  studies,  showing  convincingly  that  the 
mental  activity  of  beer-drinking  children  varied  in 
inverse  ratio  to  their  alcohol  habits.  The  chart  of 
these  findings  is  a  typical  picture  of  a  stairway  to 
stupidity.  And  bearing  out  these  findings,  an 
American  teacher,  speaking  a  few  years  ago  at  the 
Bremen  Anti-Alcoholic  Congress,  contended  that 
the  dullest  children  in  St.  Louis  came  from  just 
those  localities  most  thickly  studded  with  breweries. 

In  that  classical  series  of  studies  by  E.  Bayer,  a 
school   director  in  Vienna,   it  developed   that  the 


46  ALCOHOL 


backward  and  unruly  children  were,  almost  without 
exception,  given  alcoholic  drinks  of  various  kinds. 
Many  were  accustomed  to  the  daily  use  of  rum  in 
their  tea. 

Professor  Bayer  studied  588  of  these  children, 
distributed  through  14  classes.  He  found  that  the 
134  abstaining  children  had  a  total  of  42%  of  the 
highest  marks,  both  for  efficiency  and  for  good 
conduct,  and  with  the  other  scholars  both  deficiency 
and  unruliness  increased  proportionately  with  the 
amount  of  drink  consumed.  In  other  words, 
the  more  frequently  the  children  used  wine  or  beer, 
the  more  the  good  marks  in  scholarship  and  be- 
havior fell  off,  and  the  greater  the  increase  in  poor 
marks. 

Bayer's  report  was  corroborated  by  Dr.  Shiavi, 
who  investigated  the  influence  of  alcohol  upon 
4000  school  children  in  Brescia,  Italy. 

Dr.  T.  A.  MacNichol  conducted  a  similar  in- 
vestigation on  55,000  school  children  for  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Medicine.  He  found  that  more 
than  50%  of  these  youngsters  were  unable  to  do 
work  in  school  that  could  be  marked  "good." 
Studying  the  habits  of  20,147  parents,  Dr.  Mac- 
Nichol found  that  53  out  of  every  100  children  of 
drinking  parents  were  mentally  dull,   while  fewer 


ALCOHOL    AND     CHILDREN  47 

than  10%  of  children  of  abstinent  parents  were 
deficient  in  their  studies.  So  it  seems  to  be  proved 
that  alcohol  and  scholarship  mix  very  poorly,  if  at 
all. 

Indeed,  it  would  seem  that  one  of  the  surest  and 
quickest  ways  of  increasing  health  and  efficiency 
among  children  would  be  to  teach  them  simply 
but  scientifically  just  what  alcohol  is  and  does. 

Terse  and  epigrammatic  posters  should  be  con- 
spicuously displayed  in  all  school  rooms,  and  in 
places  frequented  by  children.  These  should  give 
exact  facts  concerning  just  what  we  are  discussing 
in  these  pages  —  the  loss  in  school-room  efficiency; 
the  deteriorating  effects  of  alcohol  upon  health  and 
strength;  the  debasing  and  degenerating  results  of 
alcoholic  excesses.  « 

In  Germany  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  the 
"New  Education."  There  the  school  children 
learn,  as  a  lesson  in  composition,  that  "Alcohol  is 
a  poison,  with  whatsoever  name  it  is  baptized  — 
with  whatever  adjectives  it  is  decorated.  How- 
ever taken,  in  winter  in  little  glasses  to  warm  one, 
or  in  large  glasses  in  summer  to  refresh  one,  it  is 
always  a  poison,  as  morphine,  nicotine,  cocaine, 
and  opium.  It  neither  warms  nor  nourishes.  It 
does  not  strengthen.     It  kills.     It  assassinates." 


Chapter  VI 
''BOOZE''  AS  FOOD 

ALCOHOL  is  a  poison  which  can  be  considered 
a  food,  provided  one  carefully  avoids  using 
it.  Its  apologists,  however,  have  long  contended 
that  it  is  a  true  food,  and  they  have  quoted, 
as  their  authoritative  advocate  in  this  view,  the 
late  Professor  At  water.  They  have  .  lifted  cer- 
tain of  his  statements  out  of  their  context, 
and  have  wilfully  destroyed  their  meaning  and 
intent. 

But  they  have  studiously  avoided  all  reference 
to  Dr.  Atwater's  speech  at  the  Musee  Social  in 
Paris,  where  he  said: 

"Alcohol  is  a  food,  within  very  restricted  limits. 
Likewise  arsenic,  belladonna,  and  other  poisons 
contain  nutritive  elements,  and  can,  equally  with 
alcohol,  be  called  foods."  Which  is  not  quite  so 
favorable  to  the  "food- value"  theory  as  we  have 
been  accustomed  to  hearing  from  Professor  At- 
water's  misquoters. 

49 


50  ALCOHOL 


It  used  to  be  contended  that  food  served  as 
fuel,  after  the  manner  of  fire  under  a  boiler, 
supplying  energy  by  its  burning  or  oxidation. 
On  this  basis  food  values  were  reckoned  in  calories, 
or  heat  units.  It  was  held  that  since  alcohol  in 
burning  yielded  a  definite  number  of  these,  that 
it  must  therefore  —  notwithstanding  its  notori- 
ously poisonous  qualities  —  be  a  food. 

No  longer  is  this  theory  tenable,  for  it  has  been 
proven  that  many  substances  which  burn  to  water 
arid  carbon  dioxide  in  the  body,  as  does  alcohol, 
have  absolutely  no  food  value  whateverj^ajid^are^ 
not  capable  of  acting  as  substitutes  for  such  foods, 
for  instance,  as  fat  or  sugar.  These  substances 
are  glycerin,  butyric,  acetic,  uric,  lactic,  and  other 
organic  acids.  All  attempts  to  prove  the  posses- 
sion of  food  value  by  these  have  completely  failed. 
This  little-known  fact  has  been  overlooked,  or 
ignored,  by  those  interested  in  promoting  the 
theory  of  the  food  value  of  alcohol. 

To  develop  nutritive  characteristics  substances 
to  be  classed  as  foods  must  possess  other  qualities 
in  addition  to  that  of  oxidizing  in  the  tissues. 
These  characteristics  require  that  food  elements 
must  participate  in  the  buildingup  of  the 
cells  —  the  foundation  of  life  function. 


<<^^^„^  »> 


BOOZE         AS    FOOD  51 

For  instance,  such  elements  as  whole  series  of 
inorganic  compounds  or  mineral  salts  —  potash, 
lime,  sodium,  etc.  —  have  not  the  slightest  calorie 
or  burning  value,  yet,  as  true  food  elements,  they 
are  absolutely  indispensable  to  life  and  health. 

Alcohol,  by  reversing  the  building  principle,  and 
alwa^sbreaking  down  the  cells,  acts  destructively 
upon  protoplasm.  In  short,  it  is  a  poison  which  is 
the  direct  opposite  of  a  food. 

Further,  alcohol  oxidized  in  the  body  withdraws 
oxygen  from  the  tissues,  and  hinders  the  combus- 
tion of  food  supplies  in  the  organism,  particularly 
of  fats.  Because  of  this,  unutilized  pathological 
fat  is  deposited  in  various  parts  of  the  body,  and 
permeates  the  vulnerable  internal  organs. 

Furthermore  alcohol  passes  out  of  the  walls  of 
cells  as  easily,  or  more  easily,  than  it  passes  into 
them.  This  is  not  the  case  with  any  element  that 
could  be  classed  as  a  true  food.  Alcohol  therefore 
physiologically  violates  all  pure  food  laws.        ^^i.^^^^ 

Also,  alcohol  has  exactly  the  same  effect  a^  ethep/ 
chloroform,  and  chloral-hydrate  —  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  sugar,  for  instance  —  for  it  dissolves  and 
is  soluble  in  fats.  It  is  a  true  narcotic  poison  in 
the  fat  series,  and  has  the  same  properties  as 
its    bloodthirsty    cousins    of    this    category.     For 


52  ALCOHOL 


with  it  one  can  first  narcotize,  then  paralyze, 
and  eventually  kill,  when  given  in  suflScient 
quantity,  any  man,  animal,  or  plant  subjected  to 
its  action. 

Not  even  the  most  enthusiastic  alcohol  exponent 
would  think  of  calling  ether,  chloroform,  or  chloral- 
hydrate  a  "food,"  even  though  these  substances 
oxidize  in  the  body  as  freely,  or  more  freely,  than 
does  alcohol.  Of  alcohol  alone  they  make  a  shining 
exception,  for  it  is  only  with  respect  to  this  White 
Water  of  Death  that  they  make  the  paradoxical 
claim  that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
poison,  it  is  also  a  good  food. 

Many  men,  in  other  respects  intelligent,  firmly 
believe  that  wine,  for  example,  gives  strong  bones 
to  growing  children,  and  even  staid,  bespectacled 
professors  still  regard  beer  as  "liquid  bread." 
Yet  Destree  and  Schmiedeberg  have  demonstrated, 
in  an  elaborate  and  carefully  worked  out  series  of 
experiments,  that  workmen  can  do  more  work 
fasting  than  while  existing  upon  alcoholic  "nutri- 
tion" exclusively. 

Also,  it  has  been  shown  that  dogs  nourished  with 
a  definite  quantity  of  albumen  and  sugar,  can  not 
only  accomplish  a  definite,  mathematically  regis- 
tered   quantity    of    work    each    day  —  using    the 


i   i    ^    ^    ^    ^ ?5 


BOOZE         AS    FOOD  53 

running  machine  as  a  testing  medium  —  but  they 
gain  in  weight.  Whereas,  if  the  sugar  be  replaced 
with  alcohol  to  the  same  number  of  calorie  units, 
there  is  a  distinct  diminution,  both  in  the  dog's 
weight   and  in  the  amount  of  work  accomplished. 

Indeed,  if  the  "oxidizing"  view  were  true,  fusel 
oil  —  regarded  universally  as  an  adulterant  to 
"good"  liquor  —  would,  as  producing  more  heat 
units  during  combustion  in  the  body,  have  to  be 
considered  a  much  more  desirable  food  than  the 
fine,  high-priced  ethyl-alcohols  of  the  much-vaunted 
"pure"  hquors  and  wines. 

But  even  granted,  for  the  sake  of  argument, 
that  alcohol  has  a  fuel  value,  it  is  a  deceitful  one, 
for  the  body  temperature  falls  when  alcohol  is 
used  in  winter.  The  surface  blood  vessels,  dilating 
as  they  do  under  its  action,  are  like  open  windows, 
letting  the  heat  escape.  Polar  explorers  have  long 
since  proven  this  by  sad  experience,  and  it  is  now 
but  rarely  that  brandy  is  included  in  the  explorer's 
medicine  chest.  And  this  same  interdiction  applies 
to  most  of  the  European  armies  and  their  rations. 

Also,  intelligent  drivers  and  chauffeurs,  whose 
duties  require  them  to  be  much  in  the  frigid  air, 
realize  that  there  is  no  quicker  way  for  them  to 
"freeze  stiff"  than  by  taking  alcoholic  stimulants 


54  ALCOHOL 


to  "heat  them  up."  Needless  to  say,  dilatation 
of  the  capillaries  produces  a  heatening  effect  in 
summer,  as  the  blood-congested  and  sweat-streaked 
faces  of  those  who  indulge  in  this  "food"  can  testify. 

Dr.  Lyman  Fisher,  Director  of  the  New  York 
Hygiene  and  Life  Extension  Institute,  comments 
upon  alcohol  to  this  effect:  "What  about  alcohol.^ 
This  lecture  is  about  foods,  not  about  narcotics; 
so  we  will  place  alcohol  where  it  belongs  —  on  the 
drug  shelf.  You  can  get  the  equivalent  of  its 
vaunted  energy  and  so-called  food  value  without  any 
of  its  poison  value  out  of  a  little  sugar  and  water." 

Gradually  but  surely  driven  from  their  "food" 
defenses,  alcohol's  apologists  have  now  constructed 
a  bulwark  of  beer.  Many  of  these  gallant  heroes 
contend  that  there  is  more  nourishment  in  a  glass 
of  beer  than  there  is  in  a  whale  on  toast.  This 
may  be  true.  For  no  one  knows  exactly  how 
much  nourishment  there  is  in  a  whale.  But  we 
know  exactly  how  much  nutriment  a  glass  of  beer 
contains.  It  contains  about  5%  of  malt  extract 
—  or  1  part  in  20  —  the  food  value  of  which  is 
variable. 

This  extract  consists  of  protein  matters,  con- 
verted and  unconverted  sugar,  hop  resin,  and  other 
substances  of  no  dietary  value,  left  as  a  residue 


(( 99 


BOOZE         AS    FOOD  55 

after  complete  evaporation.  In  addition,  beer 
sometimes  contains  preservatives,  such  as  sodium 
fluoride  and  salicylic  acid,  together  with  soda 
bicarbonate  to  neutralize  the  acidity,  and  to  help 
put  the  foaming  "head"  on  it.  Also  salt,  to  over- 
come the  disagreeable  taste  —  and  perhaps  inspire 
a  languishing  thirst  for  more  of  this  "liquid  food." 

Dr.  Wiley,  some  time  ago,  very  effectually  dis- 
posed of  the  status  of  salicylic  acid  and  preserva- 
tives, and  even  the  most  enthusiastic  exponents  of 
"food  in  beer"  will  hardly  urge  the  use  of  hop  resin 
as  an  article  of  diet.  ^ 

As  regards  the  recent  claims  that  lecithin,  or 
"nerve  fat,"  has  been  discovered  in  beer,  this  is 
interesting  —  if  true.  If  it  has  —  despite  all  the 
painstaking  negative  analyses  of  many  generations 
of  chemists  —  it  is  quite  safe  to  estimate  that  the 
total  amount  contained  in  4  car  loads  of  beer 
might  approximate  the  quantity  concealed  about 
the  person  of  one  vigorous,  fresh  egg.  WTiich 
would  give  it  a  nutritional  value  almost  as  high 
as  that  of  the  hole  in  a  doughnut. 

This  leaves  us  a  few  grains  of  proteid  and  a 
small  amount  of  sugar  as  the  "food"  in  beer.  If 
the  tissues  are  supplied  with  a  liberal  amount  of 
water  —  although  no  one  claims  water  as  a  food 


56  ALCOHOL 


per  se  —  life  can  be  sustained  for  a  very  con- 
siderable time.  Dr.  Tanner  fasted  for  40  days. 
Perhaps  some  beer-encouraged  expert  might  do 
even  better.  He  might  —  if  he  could  rid  the  beer 
of  its  4  or  5  %  alcohol  content  — ^  a  content  that, 
in  the  absence  of  other  food  to  attack,  would  prey 
upon  the  tissues  like  a  myriad  of  infinitesimal 
teeth.  But  if  he  did,  the  genial  draught  would  no 
longer  be  beer. 

Many  years  ago.  Baron  Justus  von  Liebig,  in 
his  "Chemische  Brief e,"  said:  "It  is  now  possible 
to  demonstrate  with  mathematical  certainty  that, 
so  far  as  enriching  the  blood  is  concerned,  the  flour 
that  will  lie  on  the  point  of  a  knife  affords  more 
nourishment  than  4  measures  of  the  best  Bavarian 
beer.  Anybody  who  drinks  a  measure  of  beer  , 
daily  would  thus  imbibe  in  one  year  about  as  much 
nourishment  as  is  contained  in  a  pound  of  bread." 
So  notwithstanding  that  Professor  Adolph  Cluss, 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Vienna,  states  that 

"Beer  makes  good  the  waste  in  human  tissue, 
due  to  excessive  mental  or  physical  activity,"  it 
does  not  make  it  good  —  chiefly  because  it  contains 
nothing  to  make  it  good  with. 

In  the  absence  of  more  convincing  proof,  it  would 
seem  that  those  who  class  beer  among  the  foods 


** booze"   as   food  57 


are  giving  their  imaginations  gentle  exercise  —  or 
else  they  are  magnifying  the  food  value  of  a  few 
grains  of  proteid  and  a  little  sugar  through  the 
lens  in  the  bottom  of  a  beer  bottle. 

We  are  also  laboring  under  a  grave  misappre- 
hension when  we  believe  that  alcohol  "^^ssists 
digestion."  So  far  as  the  seductive  and  cheery 
looking  "appetizer"  is  concerned,  it  has  almost  the 
same  profound  influence  upon  digestion  that  a 
tom-tom  has  upon  chilblains.  They  "tried  this 
out"  at  Yale  University  lately. 

To  one  group  of  students  an  excellent  dinner  was 
given  —  without  alcoholic  accompaniment.  A  few 
hours  later,  what  remained  of  this  dinner  was 
withdrawn  and  tested.  In  every  case  digestion 
was  found  to  be  well  advanced. 

Another  group  of  students  partook  of  a  similar 
collation,  but  each  of  these,  in  addition,  was 
presented  with  an  appetizer  in  the  shape  of  a 
cocktail,  gin-fizz,  or  whatever  they  most  yearned 
for. 

The  stomach  contents  of  this  group  were  with- 
drawn after  the  same  length  of  time.  On  examina- 
tion it  was  found  that  digestion  was  abnormal  and 
imperfect.  Peptic  digestion  was  only  incompletely 
"carried  forward,"   for,   owing  to  the  presence  of 


58  ALCOHOL 


alcohol,  the  digestive  juices  had  failed  properly  to 
act  upon  the  albumens. 

These  experiments  were  repeated  many  times, 
and  invariably  with  similar  results.  Which  proves 
that  the  "aperitive"  is  not  an  appetizer  or  di- 
gestive. It  is  a  devitalizer,  pure  and  simple,  and 
destroys  or  retards  the  normal  processes  of  digestion. 

The  feeling  of  warmth  and  exhilaration,  fre- 
quently felt  as  the  "kick"  from  a  cocktail,  arises 
merely  as  a  result  of  irritating  the  more  or  less 
delicate  mucous  membrane  lining  of  the  stomach. 

According  to  Drs.  Chittenden  and  Mendel,  "One 
tablespoonful  of  whiskeys-reduces  the  digestive 
activity  more  than  75%,j  And,  asserts  Dr. 
Bunge,  "When  alcohol  is  taken  into  the  system, 
in  any  appreciable  amount,  the  digestive  process 
is  arrested  and  fermentation  ensues." 

If  there  exists  a  decided  misconception  as  to 
why  whiskey  is,  there  exists  an  even  more  pro- 
nounced ignorance  concerning  what  whiskey  is. 
Most  whiskey  drinkers  "let  the  label  tell."  But 
what  it  tells  only  adds  to  their  plentiful  lack  of 
knowledge  on  the  subject. 

For  instance:  Whiskey,  brandy,  gin.  Cognac, 
rum,  and  most  other  high-content  alcoholic  drinks 
are  all  —  according  to  the  testimony  elicited  during 


(  ( „„    >5 


BOOZE         AS    FOOD  59 

the  hearing  of  the  "Whiskey  Trust"  before  the 
House  of  Representatives  —  made  from  the  same 
base. 

This  base  consists  of  "high  wines,"  the  first 
product  of  the  distillation  of  grain.  When  these 
are  taken  reverently  from  the  distilling  apparatus 
they  are  raw,  crude  —  totally  undrinkable.  But 
on  being  kept  for  a  time  in  charred  oak  bar- 
rels, the  more  poisonous  elements  —  the  so-called 
"higher  alcohols,"  fusel  oil,  aldehyde,  etc.,  amount- 
ing to  approximately  2  %  —  are  chemically  changed. 
Although  the  modified  liquor  is  not  less  poison- 
ous than  it  was  before,  it  becomes  drinkable.  And 
then  it  is  "whiskey"  —  old  style. 

During  the  aging  process  the  high  wines  dissolve 
some  of  the  sugary  elements  and  color  from  the 
char  of  the  barrel,  and  thereby  acquire  the  amber 
color ^  and  the  oily  "bead"  so  beloved  of  the 
connoisseur. 

But  this  method  is  generally  obsolete.  The 
modern  method  of  producing  liquors  consists  in 
redistilling  these  high  wines,  driving  off  the  fusel 
oil  and  aldehydes,  and  reducing  the  resultant 
"cologne  spirits"  to  "proof"  by  adding  a  judicious 
admixture  of  water  and  flavoring. 

This    process    is    confidingly    and    affectionately 


60  ALCOHOL 


known  as  "rectification,"  and  those  who  unselfishly 
and  unstintingly  give  of  their  time  and  labors  in 
this  good  work  are  known  as  "rectifiers." 

Rectification  is  accomplished  by  means  of  es- 
sences, aromatics,  coloring  material,  sweetening, 
spirits,  and  brains. 

Thus  a  diligent,  skillful  rectifier,  by  the  aid  of 
sugar  syrup,  "Bourbon  extract,"  "rye  extract," 
"rye  oil,"  "malt  essence,"  "Irish"  or  "Scotch" 
essence,  "Pittsburgh  rye,"  or  "  Monongahela " 
essence,  can  produce  whiskey  of  any  age  or  origin 
—  w^ithout  an  effort. 

James  R.  Mann,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Illinois,  demonstrated  this  before  the  House  of 
Representatives  during  the  classic  Whiskey  Trust 
hearing  aforementioned.  He  showed  that,  by  the 
aid  of  these  various  essences,  aided  and  abetted  by 
a  bottle  of  "bead  oil,"  some  "aging  oil,"  and 
caramel  to  color,  any  desired  variety  of  whiskey 
could  be  produced.  And  the  sworn  testimony  of 
a  number  of  distillers,  w^ho  testified  before  that 
Committee  —  substantiated  by  the  reports  of  the 
Bureau  of  Chemistry  —  shows  that  whiskeys  were 
so  produced. 

Indeed,  Mr.  William  T.  Hobart,  answering  the 
question : 


(6 .„   >> 


BOOZE         AS    FOOD  61 

"How  do  you  flavor  gin?"  answered: 
"We  simply  take  spirits,  and  put  in  about  40 
drops  of  essence  of  gin,  which  is  made  from  the 
juniper  berry.     That  makes  it  gin." 

"You  take  these  spirits,  and  put  in  some  other 
essence,  and  it  becomes  Jamaica  rum.^" 
"Yes,  the  spirits  will  take  any  flavor." 
"Then   you   take  some  other  of  these   essences 
and  some  spirits,  and  it  sells  for  rye  whiskey  .f^" 
"Yes." 

"Any  kind  of  whiskey  you  want.^" 
"Yes,  it  can  be  made  with  these  flavors." 
And  in  replying  as  to  the  extent  of  these  prac- 
tices, he  admitted  that 

"There  is  not  a  house  in  the  trade  that  does  not 
understand  this." 

So,  upon  the  Pelion  of  the  natural  injuriousness 
of  alcohol  is  piled  the  Ossa  of  highly  poisonous 
adulteration.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  the  drinker 
sometimes  has  grave  doubts  as  to  where  he  was 
struck  —  and  also  what  struck  him? 

However,  if  one  must  drink,  it  would  be  highly 
advisable  —  from  the  standpoint  of  health  —  to 
drink  always  poor  liquor  instead  of  pure  liquor. 
For  the  best  is  infinitely  worse  than  the  worst. 
Good  old  liquor  is  vastly  more  harmful  than  bad 


62  ALCOHOL 


new  liquor.  The  more  stars  there  are  on  the 
label  of  a  bottle  of  high-priced  brandy,  the  more 
stars  the  drinker  of  the  brandy  will  see,  and  the 
sooner  he  will  see  them.  Also,  the  more  perma- 
nent the  effects  of  such  distorted  vision  upon  him. 

This  has  been  proved  beyond  any  question  of 
doubt  by  most  elaborate  and  painstaking  analyses 
made  recently  in  Europe.  Professor  Lieberman,  of 
the  University  of  Budapest,  was  the  first  to  direct 
attention  to  this  seemingly  paradoxical  discrepancy. 

He  examined  several  hundred  specimens  of  fine 
wines  and  brandies,  compared  his  findings  with 
the  analyses  of  an  equal  number  of  the  ordinary 
vintages  and  cheap  alcohols  of  trade,  and  found 
the  former  much  more  dangerous  in  that  they 
contain  higher  percentages  of  aldehydes  and  fur- 
furol,  and  also  a  higher  alcohol  content  than  the 
cheaper  beverages. 

The  best  Cognac  that  could  be  purchased  was 
found  to  contain  4.7  %  of  fusel,  as  against  7.01  % 
in  some  of  the  cheaper  varieties.  The  Swiss  Mo- 
nopoly, examining  316  specimens  of  ordinary  trade 
spirits,  found  a  fusel  content  of  only  3.86%. 

Then  Professor  Morin  carried  the  analysis  a  step 
further.  A  kilogram  of  the  most  expensive  Cognac 
fusel  was  compared  with  the  same  amount  of  fusel 


*'booze"   as  food  63 


from  potato  and  grain  spirits.  The  result  was 
fetish-destroying.  For,  while  in  the  grain  spirits 
he  found  .21  grams  of  furfurol  and  oils,  and  in  the 
potato  spirits  only  .05,  in  the  high  grade,  multiple- 
starred  varieties  of  Cognac  there  were  8.88  grams 
of  these  epilepsy-producing  poisons. 

Professor  Bruylant  of  the  University  of  Brussels, 
and  Professor  Depaire  of  the  University  of  Louvain, 
analyzed  500  samples  of  spirits  purchased  at  ran- 
dom from  the  public  drink  shops  of  Belgium. 

They  demonstrated  that  these  contained  only 
one-tenth  the  impurities  found  in  high  grade 
liquors  and  wines  from  the  cellars  of  the  epicures. 

Similar  results  were  obtained  in  quantitative 
chemical  analyses  made  in  France  and  in  Germany. 
And  as  most  of  our  "high  grade"  liquors  are 
imported,  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  suppose  that 
the  same  thing  is  not  true  in  America. 

Therefore,  if  one  must  drink,  it  would  be  highly 
advisable  to  economize  in  both  health  and  money 
by  drinking  only  the  poorest  "pure  liquors,"  or 
better  still,  the  "split"  of  the  Maine  and  Canadian 
woodsmen.  For  those  who  may  wish  to  refine 
their  taste  in  beverages,  we  might  say  that  this  is 
a  combination  of  grain  alcohol,  sugar,  and  water; 
mixed    to    suit    the    individual    requirement    and 


64  ALCOHOL 


capacity.  The  advantage  of  this  alcohoHc  drink 
over  all  others,  is  that  when  one  is  poisoned  by  it, 
he  at  least  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  what 
caused  it.  One  thing,  however,  we  do  know.  We 
are  quite  certain  that  alcohol,  because  it  destroys 
all  organic  life,  is  a  splendid  medium  in  which  to 
preserve  a  man,  after  he  is  dead.  But  to  use  it 
during  life  —  either  as  a  food  or  drink  —  is  in- 
compatible with  scientific  thought,  or  even  good 
common  sense. 


Chapter  VII 
BEER   THE  BRUTALIZER 

CONTRARY  to  generally  accepted  belief  beer 
is  proportionately  much  more  noxious  than 
are  wines  or  liquors.  While  liquor  makes  a  man 
brutal  and  dulls  his  judgment,  beer  makes  him 
slow-witted  and  abolishes  judgment.  And,  while 
wine  or  brandy,  in  sufficient  quantity,  makes  a 
man  crazy,  beer,  in  corresponding  quantity,  makes 
him  stupid.  And  between  insanity  and  stupidity 
there  is  merely  a  question  of  choice.  Some  of  us 
prefer  an  interesting  maniac  to  a  brutalized  idiot. 

The  actual  reason  for  this  brutalization  and 
sottishness  has  been  known  for  only  a  few  years  — 
is  even  yet  not  generally  understood.  Yet  it  is 
very  simple.  For,  in  addition  to  the  small  whiskey 
glass  of  alcohol  in  each  pint  of  beer,  beer  also 
contains  a  large  and  varying  percentage  of  lupulin 
—  the  active  principle  of  hops. 

The  so-called  lupulin  glands  of  the  hops  secrete 
an    ethereal   oil   consisting   of   various   terpenes  — 

65 


66  ALCOHOL 


substances  similar  to  turpentine  oil  —  which  hold 
the  other  elements  in  solution.  Among  these  ele- 
ments are  the  hop  acids  and  resins. 

We  used  to  think  that  we  got  all  the  "rosin" 
with  which  we  varnished  our  kidney  cells  from  the 
pitch  lining  of  the  beer  barrels.  But  we  know  now 
that  we  get  our  kidney  shellac  from  the  hops  which 
enter  into  the  composition  of  the  beer.  These 
terpenes  act  powerfully  and  disastrously  upon  the 
nervous  system  as  wxll  as  upon  the  kidneys. 

The  alkaloids,  too,  have  a  stupifying  action  on 
the  nerves.  For  the  hop  belongs  to  the  hemp 
group,  and  is  closely  related  to  Indian  hemp. 
On  the  female  blossoms  of  Indian  hemp,  as  on  the 
female  blossoms  of  hops,  we  find  glands  holding 
a  narcotic,  sticky,  bitter-tasting  substance,  which 
is  the  active  element  of  hashish. 

Hashish  is  used  largely  by  the  various  Moham- 
medan peoples  of  West  and  South  Africa,,  and  in 
the  Malay  Archipelago,  for  narcotic  purposes. 
In  the  intermediary  stage  —  before  complete  stupi- 
fication  sets  in  —  these  hemp  habitues  become 
dangerously  violent  —  even  to  running  amuck  with 
a  huge  creese,  or  crooked-bladed  dagger  —  stab- 
bing and  slashing,  until  they  are  mercifully  killed 
in  their  tracks. 


BEER    THE    BRUTALIZER  67 

Now,  hashish  contains  exactly  the  same  elements 
as  are  found  in  the  lupulin  glands  of  hops  —  bitter- 
tasting  resins,  an  ethereal  oil,  and  one  or  more 
alkaloids.  Therefore,  hops  exert  the  same  effect 
on  the  human  body  as  does  hashish  —  differing 
only  in  degree. 

Naturally,  in  making  this  comparison,  we  must 
remember  that  hashish  is  used  in  concentrated 
form,  while  there  is  relatively  but  a  small  amount 
of  the  hemp  elements  in  beer.  But  this  is  some- 
what offset  by  the  fact  that  a  beer  drinker  imbibes 
—  in  his  favorite  beverage  —  sufficient  lupulin  to 
make  up  considerable  of  the  deficiency. 

Professor  Reinitzer,  of  the  Polytechnic  at  Graz, 
has  demonstrated  that  it  is  due  to  the  preservative 
action  of  the  hop  resins  that  it  is  possible  to 
"keep"  beer.  The  bacterial  life-forms  in  beer 
(the  sarcina  organisms)  are  hindered  from  multiply- 
ing by  the  resins  contained  in  the  hops.  This 
assists  the  alcohol  in  preventing  undue  fermenta- 
tion. So  the  internal  organs  of  a  beer  drinker 
undergo  a  double  process  of  pickling,  which  makes 
him  just  about  50%  worse  off  than  he  would  be 
if  he  confined  himself  exclusively  to  alcohol. 

Here  we  have  rational  and  scientific  explanations 
as  to  why  excessive  beer  drinking  is  accompanied 


68  ALCOHOL 


by  that  stupidity  and  clumsy  heaviness  of  mind 
pecuhar  to  those  who  indulge  unwisely  and  unwell 
in  the  beverage  that  anathematized  Gambrinus. 
That  vivacity  and  brilliance  of  wit  which  enable 
the  Munich  beer  drinker,  for  instance,  to  stare 
stupidly  into  his  beer  mug  for  an  hour  at  a  time, 
are  typical  symptoms  of  hemp  poisoning  —  plus 
alcoholism.  And  either  alone  is  bad  enough  —  in 
all  conscience. 

It  would  be  most  interesting  if  Kraepelin, 
Benedict,  Ascheffenburg,  or  some  other  physiologist 
were  to  make  a  series  of  experiments  w^ith  the 
lupulin  extracted  from  a  given  quantity  of  beer, 
to  determine  exactly  how  much  extra  loss  in 
memory,  correlation,  response,  accuracy,  and  work- 
value  follows  the  use  of  beer  —  as  compared  with 
undoped  alcohol. 

We  have  just  seen  that  alcohol  plus  lupulin 
equals  brutishness.  It  might  be  instructive  to 
amplify  this  knowledge  somewhat  —  to  convince 
ourselves  that  the  whiskey  devil  cannot  be  driven 
out  by  the  beer  Beelzebub.  Here  are  a  few  of  the 
reasons  why. 

Professor  Forel,  of  the  University  of  Zurich, 
reported  that  at  the  Ellikon  Sanatorium  —  the 
first  great  institution  in  Europe  to  forswear  alcohol 


BEER    THE    BRUTALIZER  69 

in  therapeutics  —  the  number  of  beer  alcohohsts 
outnumbered  the  spirit  alcohohsts  nine  to  one. 

Dr.  Hueppe  and  Professor  Przibram,  of  Prague, 
have  demonstrated,  by  the  incontrovertible  evidence 
of  the  autopsy  table,  that  beer  injures  more  hearts, 
livers,  and  kidneys  than  does  brandy. 

The  great  physiologist,  Welminsky,  has  shown 
that  the  belief  that  beer  drinkers  do  not  suffer 
from  delirium  tremens  is  a  fleeting  fitful  fancy. 
He  has  given  us  accurate  statistics  proving  that  in 
Bohemia  and  other  European  countries  —  with  a 
beery  past,  present,  and  perhaps  future  —  a  far 
greater  number  of  the  delirious  have  become  so 
through  beer  than  through  spirits  drinking. 

And  Dr.  Delbrueck  adds,  for  our  edification, 
that  beer  and  wine  lands  are  the  most  alcohol 
drenched  (France,  Germany,  Belgium,  and  Bavaria), 
and  that  the  whiskey  and  brandy  lands  (Sweden 
and  Norway)  the  least  so.  He  concludes  that  the 
beer  danger  is  for  the  future  far  greater  than  the 
spirits  danger. 

Also,  Dr.  August  Smith,  of  Schloss  Marbach, 
has  reported  experiments  which  prove  positively 
that  beer  drinking  —  even  more  than  spirit  drink- 
ing —  produces  invariably  a  dilation  of  the  heart, 
and  coincidentally  causes  all  the  pathological  effects 


70  ALCOHOL 


upon  the  circulatory  system  that  accompany  heart 
dilation. 

And  here  is  something  that  may  give  the  beer 
drinker  pause.  In  the  Reinitzer  prisms,  displayed 
conspicuously  in  the  anti-alcohol  exhibitions  of 
Europe,  one  cube  represents  a  pint  of  pure  alcohol 

—  sufficient  to  kill  a  man  on  the  spot.  Alongside 
of  this  is  a  prism  standing  for  14.6  pints  of  alcohol 

—  the  amount  a  man  who  drinks  a  pint  of  beer 
daily  takes  into  his  system  each  year.  It  is  a 
relatively  simple  problem  to  estimate  from  these 
comparisons  just  to  what  extent  and  how  fatuously 
a  beer  drinker  —  in  pursuing  his  favorite  avocation 

—  is  flirting  with  the  undertaker. 

A  device  much  used  in  Europe  for  demonstrating 
the  alcohoHc  content  of  beer,  might  with  profit 
be  employed  in  this  country.  This  consists  of  an 
ordinary  and  most  familiar  looking  bottle  of  brown 
beer,  through  the  cork  of  which  a  small  hole  has 
been  punched.  This  bottle  is  set  over  a  heating 
apparatus,  and  after  two  minutes  the  alcohol 
evaporates  and  passes  up  through  the  hole.  The 
gas  is  then  ignited,  and,  needless  to  say,  it  makes 
a  very  pretty  and  most  illuminating  illumination. 

And  to  prove,  out  of  their  own  mouths,  that  the 
Germans  are  not  nearly  so  enthusiastic  about  beer 


BEER    THE    BRUTALIZER  71 

as  some  pro-beerists  would  have  us  believe,  we 
have  but  to  glance  at  these  excerpts  from  an 
Army  pamphlet  entitled  "Alcohol  and  the  Power 
of  Resistance,"  circulated  widely  among  German 
soldiers. 

"There  is  no  justification  for  calling  beer  'liquid 
bread';  a  glass  of  heavy  beer  costing  25  pfennigs 
has  no  more  nourishment  than  a  piece  of  cheese 
costing  one  pfennig.  .  .  .  Almost  all  excesses  and 
disturbances  in  the  army  are  traced  to  drink.  .  .  . 
It  is  mostly  beer  that  causes  the  mischief.  Beer 
is  not  the  harmless  drink  it  is  supposed  to  be." 

The  most  sinister  thing  about  beer  is  this  ap- 
parent harmlessness.  Yet  almost  invariably  the 
drink  habit  is  inaugurated  through  the  use  of  beer. 
Scientific  men  and  sociologists  in  general  fail  to 
agree  with  brewers  in  their  contention  that  beer 
drives  out  stronger  liquors.  Professor  Strumpel  of 
Breslau,  Germany,  says:  "Nothing  is  more  errone- 
ous than  to  think  of  diminishing  the  destructive 
effects  of  alcoholism  by  substituting  beer  for  other 
alcoholic  drinks."  And  Dr.  Howard  A.  Kelley, 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  says:  "I  consider, 
with  eminent  German  authorities  of  enormous  ex- 
periences, that  beer  is  exceedingly  injurious  and 
dangerous  as  a  beverage."    And  so  it  is.     For  of 


72  ALCOHOL 


18  cases  of  drunkenness  appearing  before  a  police 
court  judge  "hand  running"  recently,  fifteen  said 
that  they  had  been  drinking  beer.  Three  old  to- 
pers had  been  using  whiskey.  Half  of  these  beer 
cases  involved  assault  and  battery  or  destruction  of 
property. 

Even  as  a  "hot  weather  drink"  beer  is  a  broken 
reed  upon  which  to  lean.  For  Dr.  Alfred  Plehn  — 
world  famous  as  a  tropical  hygienist  —  warns 
explicitly  against  its  use,  arguing  that,  in  his 
experience,  it  is  especially  suited,  under  the  patho- 
logical conditions  which  a  hot  climate  creates,  to 
create  disturbances  in  the  stomach  and  diges- 
tion, and  in  this  way  to  prepare  the  ground  for 
dysentery. 

What  we  have  said  concerning  beer  applies  with 
equal,  if  not  greater,  force  to  ale  —  even  to  those 
heavily  advertised  and  much-lauded  ales  for  which 
the  claim  is  made  that 

"To  feel  well  and  be  well,  drink  a  glass  of 

Ale  w^ith  your  dinner  each  night.  .  .  .  Physicians 
generally  recommend  it  for  its  wonderful  tonic 
value." 

This  statement  is  pure  buncombe.  Educated, 
well-read  physicians  do  not  "generally  recommend 
ale  for  its  wonderful  tonic  value,"  for  the  simple 


BEER    THE    BRUTALIZER  73 

reason  that  it  has  none.  The  man  who  drinks  ale 
or  beer  or  stout  drinks  it  because  he  Hkes  its 
narcotic  and  stupifying  effects.  If  he  thinks  he 
gets  any  other  effects  from  it,  he  is  deluding 
himself. 

And  when  these  purveyors  of  poison  insist  that 
"No  other  beverage  can  compare  with  good  ale 
for  satisfying  and  nourishing  properties,"  they  are 
paying  out  good  money  to  prove  that  they  know 
nothing  about  nutrition  or  nutritive  values.  To 
prove  this  statement  we  have  but  to  refer  them  to 
comparative  tables  showing  the  food  values  of 
milk  or  chocolate,  for  instance  —  both  fairly  well- 
known  beverages  —  as  contrasted  with  beer,  ale, 
or  stout. 


Chapter  VIII 
WHAT  ALCOHOL  DOES   TO  CELLS 

ACADEMIC  men,  particularly  the  German 
savants,  are  above  everything  else  methodical. 
And  so  they  demonstrated  —  methodically  and  con- 
clusively —  that  alcohol  is  a  chemical  —  definite 
and  stable  —  the  effects  of  which,  allowing  for 
slight  modifications  or  variations  due  to  idio- 
syncrasy, are  uniform  and  well  defined.  Also  that 
it  produces  physical,  mental,  and  psychical  phe- 
nomena which  are  readily  investigated,  and  which 
yield  surprisingly  interesting  —  not  to  say  actually 
startling  —  results.  The  conclusions  —  allowing  for 
the  personal  equation  —  are  quite  as  accurate 
as  a  mathematical  problem,  and  equally  as  con- 
vincing as  a  demonstration  in  physics  or  in 
chemistrv. 

Now,  the  chief  physical  (or  physiological)  action 
of  alcohol  is  strikingly  shown  when  the  leucocytes 
—  the  "White  Soldiers  of  the  Blood"  — are  sub- 
jected to  its  influence.     Under  the  microscope  it 

75 


76  ALCOHOL 


is  demonstrated  that  even  a  moderate  quantity 
absorbed  into  the  blood  paralyzes  the  white  cor- 
puscles (phagocytes).  They  behave  like  drunken 
sots,  they  can't  move  fast  enough  to  catch  the 
disease  germs,  and  when  placed  in  the  midst  of  a 
clump  of  malignant  microbes  are  unable  to  kill  and 
devour  them.  In  the  chronic  alcoholic  the  micro- 
scope shows  that  the  fighting  powers  of  the  white 
corpuscles  are  permanently  reduced.  ^  This  accounts 
for  the  lowered  vitality  of  heavy  drinkers  —  and  to 
a  lesser  extent  of  any  drinkers  —  and  explains  why 
pneumonia,  typhoid,  or  grave  infectious  diseases 
are  so  fatal  among  them. 

In  fact,  after  continued  heavy  drinking,  the 
microscope  reveals  that  the  phagocytes  have  lost 
their  real  nature,  have  returned  to  a  condition  of 
savagery,  and,  instead  of  defending  their  host  and 
his  body  cells,  have  become  degenerate  cannibals, 
feeding  upon  the  tissues  and  organs  like  disease 
germs. 

The  favorite  food  of  these  alcohoHzed  corpuscles 
is  the  tender  cells  of  latest  development,  the 
highest  and  most  delicate  in  the  biological  scale. 
These  are  the  brain  cells.  In  proof  of  this,  the 
presence  of  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain  can 
be  demonstrated   in   the  bodies  of   the  leucocytes 


WHAT    ALCOHOL    DOES    TO    CELLS        77 


of  drunkards.  This  explains  mental  degeneracy 
among  these  unfortunates. 

But,  in  addition  to  paralyzing  the  phagocytes, 
alcohol  has  three  other  methods  of  helping  along 
the  fair  cause  of  degeneracy.  The  first  centers 
in  its  fat-dissolving  qualities.  For  alcohol  has 
a  much  higher  affinity  for  fat  than  an  Esquimo 
has  for  blubber.  Be  it  remembered  that  all 
fat  dissolving  substances  are  narcotics;  and 
furthermore,  the  facility  and  rapidity  with  which 
they  dissolve  fats  determine  their  power  as 
narcotics. 

Thus,  ether  or  chloroform,  dissolving  fat  more 
rapidly  than  alcohol,  are  stronger  narcotics  than 
alcohol,  although  their  effects  are  more  transient, 
and  therefore  less  disastrous. 

But  alcohol  also  has  an  affinity  for  oxygen.  It 
combines  with  oxygen  to  form  an  aldehyde  (one  of 
the  steps  towards  the  dissolution  of  alcohol  into 
its  elements).  This  oxygen  hunger  causes  alcohol 
to  rob  the  blood  of  its  loose  oxygen.  This  retards 
normal  oxidation  of  food  products,  and  causes  the 
accumulation  of  effete  and  under-oxidized  material. 
These  products  act  as  actual  organic  poisons  upon 
the  nerve  cells  and  tissues  —  preventing  their 
active  functioning. 


78  ALCOHOL 


Alcohol  has  an  especial  fondness  for  water, 
which  it  seems  to  like  much  better  than  the  man 
who  drinks  it.  In  its  sense-deadening  progress 
through  the  system  it  robs  the  tissues  of  this  fluid. 
This  accounts  for  the  horrible  thirst  which  follows 
hard  upon  the  "morning  after."  The  headache 
which  usually  accompanies  this  same  condition  — 
it  may  be  interesting  to  know  —  is  due  to  increased 
blood  tension,  to  absorption  of  toxins,  and  to  the 
congestion  "reflexed"  from  the  highly  irritated 
stomach  and  alimentary  tract. 

These,  however,  are  but  surface  manifestations. 
It  is  not  in  transient  effects  that  the  dull  alcohol 
flood  leaves  its  imprint,  but  in  the  degenerative 
changes  which  take  place  in  the  brain  and  nerve 
cells. 

All  poisons  have  an  "elective  aiOBnity"  for  special 
organs  or  tissues.  Inasmuch  as  the  brain  and 
nerve  cells  are  composed  largely  of  fat,  oxygen,  and 
water,  and  as  alcohol,  by  its  principle  of  dissolving 
fats,  combining  with  oxygen,  and  abstracting  water, 
works  its  insidious  will  with  all  three,  we  can 
readily  understand,  on  a  purely  physiological  basis, 
why  a  drinker  should  be  wit-stricken. 

When  the  fat  is  dissolved  out  of  the  brain  and 
nerve  tissue,  it  paralyzes  their  cell  function.     This 


WHAT    ALCOHOL    DOES    TO    CELLS        79 

paralysis  is,  at  first,  only  temporary,  clearing  up 
with  the  sobering  process.  But  if  the  cause  is 
repeated  sufficiently  often,  the  paralysis  becomes 
chronic,  and  dementia,  acute  insanity,  tremors, 
palsy,  and  various  other  brain  and  nerve  diseases 
develop. 

As  a  result  of  the  abstraction  of  fat  and  water, 
the  tissues  tend  to  shrink  (atrophy),  the  cells 
degenerate,  or  their  delicate  structures  are  com- 
pletely consumed  in  the  white  poison,  and  they  are 
replaced  by  connective  tissue  —  dense,  gristle-like 
substance,  which  serves  none  of  the  normal  purposes 
for  which  the  particular  cells  it  replaces  were 
intended. 

Again,  alcohol  is  one  of  the  few  substances  that 
can  force  an  entry  into  all  cells.  The  protoplasmic 
cells  ordinarily  possess  great  powers  of  resistance. 
They  can  throw  off  or  overcome  the  action  of  most 
poisons,  and  stop  the  entrance  into  their  delicate 
interiors  of  substances  injurious  to  them.  But 
this  is  not  the  case  in  dealing  with  this  Emperor 
among  lethal  drugs.  For  alcohol,  in  common  with 
the  other  narcotic  poisons,  ether  and  chloroform, 
has  the  power  to  penetrate  all  cell  walls  with  the 
greatest  ease.  And  the  more  complexly  organized 
the  cell,  the  more  easily  and  quickly  it  penetrates. 


80  ALCOHOL 


The  more  highly  developed  the  cell,  the  higher  the 
percentage  of  fat;  and  alcohol  is  a  wizard  when 
it  comes  to  dissolving  fat  and  sacking  the  inner 
shrine  of  the  cell  temple. 

This  effect  is  even  more  marked  with  those  most 
delicate  yet  unresponsive  of  all  cells  —  'the  germ 
cells.  Dr.  C.  R.  Stockhard,  of  Cornell,  makes 
this  clear  in  a  recently  published  record  of  his 
investigations  relating  to  the  inherited  effects  of 
alcohol  on  guinea  pigs.  Now,  the  cells  of  the 
body  are  divided  into  two  great  groups  —  those 
that  do  the  everyday  work  of  the  body,  and  those 
reserved  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  species  —  the 
germinal  cells.  The  germ  cells  are  much  more 
diflficult  to  poison  or  to  affect  unfavorably  than 
are  any  other  cells  in  the  body. 

Yet  Professor  Stockard  demonstrated  that  when 
guinea  pigs  were  kept  under  the  influence  of  alcohol 
for  some  time,  their  procreative  cells  were  harm- 
fully affected.  Males  so  poisoned  begat  defective 
offspring,  even  when  mated  with  perfectly  normal 
females.  The  chief  effect  noticed  was  in  impaired 
vision,  and  so  profound  an  impression  had  alcohol 
stamped  on  the  diminutive  piggies  that  this  defect 
was  transmitted  through  three  generations.  There 
were  also  many  instances  of  matings  followed  by 


WHAT  ALCOHOL  DOES  TO  CELLS   81 

negative     results    or    early    abortions,     still-born 
young,  or  defectives. 

Other  experiments  proved  that  by  giving  one- 
half  dram  of  alcohol  to  guinea  pigs  during  their 
period  of  pregnancy,  the  young,  even  though 
viable  at  birth,  which  occurred  but  rarely,  invari- 
ably died  within  six  hours  of  birth. 

Professor  Laitinen  treated  rabbits  and  guinea 
pigs  to  as  much  alcohol  in  proportion  to  their 
weight  as  an  ordinary  sized  man  would  get  in  a 
half -pint  of  beer  per  day.  The  young  of  the 
animals  receiving  this  fractional  dose  of  alcohol 
showed  far  less  vitality  than  the  young  of  normal 
rabbits.  Their  average  weight  at  birth  was  less, 
and  they  gained  in  weight  more  slowly  during 
the  time  of  observation  after  birth. 

And  Professor  C.  F.  Hodge  reported  remarkable 
hereditary  effects  of  alcohol  given  to  a  pair  of  dogs. 
The  amount  given  daily  was  not  sujfficient  to  cause 
any  physical  evidences  of  intoxication.  Accepting 
the  common  idea  that  "moderation"  is  that 
amount  of  drink  a  man  can  stand  without  show- 
ing it,  these  dogs  were  only  moderately  poisoned. 
Yet  but  17%  of  their  young  survived,  while  90.2% 
of  the  puppies  of  abstinent  dogs  were  sound  and 
healthy. 


82  ALCOHOL 


The  well-known  practice  of  dwarfing  puppies  by 
giving  alcohol  in  the  food,  is  another  example  of 
the  toxic  influence  of  the  drug  upon  protoplasm. 
The  most  significant  feature  in  connection  with 
this  is  the  rapid  response  to  relatively  small  doses. 

Under  the  microscope,  cells  immersed  in  even  a 
mild  dilution  of  alcohol  shrink  and  become  dis- 
torted from  the  loss  of  water  (dehydration)  before 
spoken  of,  and  by  the  retraction  of  the  protoplasm 
from  irritation.  This  process,  going  on  in  all  the 
cells  of  their  tender  little  bodies,  explains  the 
dwarfing  of  the  puppies. 

And  what  applies  to  animals  applies  to  the 
cells  which  compose  all  animal  and  vegetable  life. 
For  instance,  in  experiments  with  the  yeast  plant, 
growing  on  natural  media,  after  11  hours  2061 
cells  were  developed.  Adding  a  .  001  %  solution 
of  alcohol,  a  number  of  cells  were,  during  the 
same  period  of  incubation,  reduced  to  1091; 
increasing  this  to  a  .01  %  solution,  the  cells  were 
further  reduced  to  992;  with  a  .1  %  solution,  the 
number  of  cells  developed  dropped  to  852;  and 
when  a  5%  solution  was  employed,  only  69  nor- 
)  mal  cells  were  found.  This  is  one  of  a  great 
number  of  experiments  showing  the  disintegrating 
action  of  alcohol  upon  plant  cells. 


WHAT    ALCOHOL    DOES    TO    CELLS         83 

Similar  experiments  have  been  made  upon 
animal  cells.  Dr.  Kesteven,  of  London,  showed 
that  alcohol  was  distinctly  poisonous  to  the  ameba 
and  other  simple  forms  of  protoplasm  (living 
matter).  The  cells,  placed  under  the  microscope 
and  treated  to  a  1  %  solution  of  alcohol,  developed 
a  narcosis  that  lasted  for  several  hours.  In  a  2% 
solution,  the  deadening  influence  was  increased  so 
that  every  cell  stiffened.  Some  died,  while  the 
others  recovered  after  a  time.  With  a  4%  solu- 
tion, the  majority  died,  and  a  5%  solution  was 
immediately  fatal  to  every  cell.  This  demonstra- 
tion can  be  repeated  by  any  one  capable  of  using 
a  microscope. 

And  here  is  an  experiment  that  may  be  checked 
up,  even  by  school  children.  Pots  containing 
similar  soil  and  the  same  kind  of  seeds  were 
treated  with  clear  water  and  with  water  contain- 
ing alcohol  in  proportion  of  .1  %,  .2  %,  and  .1  %. 
Though  treated  exactly  alike  in  all  other  re- 
spects, the  difference  in  their  growth  is  very  pro- 
nounced. 

Those  seeds  treated  with  pure  water  developed 
strong  and  vigorous  sprouts,  while  those  treated 
with  alcoholized  water  showed  retarded  growth 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  alcohol  employed. 


84  ALCOHOL 


Many  of  those  treated  with  the  .1%  solution 
"died  a-borning." 

Coming  higher  in  the  scale  of  creation,  and  using 
the  crayfish,  perch,  and  goldfish  as  subjects  of  ex- 
periments, it  was  found  that  by  adding  alcohol, 
to  make  the  water  in  which  the  fish  were  swim- 
ming equal  to  a  .1  %  solution,  they  dropped  im- 
mediately to  the  bottom  of  the  aquarium,  and 
unless  quickly  removed  to  unpolluted  water,  they 
promptly  died. 

Again,  if  a  chicken's  egg  be  immersed  in  a  5% 
solution  of  alcohol  for  two  hours,  or  subjected  to 
the  fumes  of  alcohol  for  the  same  period  of  time, 
the  life  of  the  egg  germ  will  be  inevitably  killed. 
No  case  is  known  where  a  chick  developed  from 
an  egg  so  maltreated. 

Keeping  clearly  in  mind  alcohol's  power  of  par- 
alyzing and  killing  leucocytes,  its  insidious  fat-dis- 
solving properties,  its  high  affinity  for  oxygen,  and 
its  voracious  appetite  for  water,  and  remember- 
ing how  these  processes  are  related  to  the  physical 
economy,  we  can  readily  understand  the  various 
degenerative  changes  and  conditions  produced  by 
its  action,  and  also  we  can  much  better  understand 
the  phenomena  of  drunkenness. 


Chapter  IX 
TEE  DOCTOR'S   VERDICT 

IS  alcohol  a  stimulant  or  not?  Has  it  any  right 
to  be  classed  as  a  medicine,  as  many  conscien- 
tious physicians  claim,  and  if  so,  what  right? 

These  questions  have  puzzled  scientists,  split 
asunder  the  camps  of  the  learned.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  the  almost  universal  belief  of  human- 
kind —  including  many  doctors  —  that  a  "good 
drink"  is  a  "bracer"  sows  the  seed  for  a  powerful 
mental  suggestion  of  benefit.  In  other  words,  the 
psychological  stimulant  influence  of  alcohol  upon 
one  dangerously  ill,  might  on  occasion  weigh  the 
Scales  of  Life  in  his  favor. 

But  if  he  had  the  same  faith  —  and  many  do  — 
in  an  amulet,  a  few  bread  pills,  or  any  inert  and 
innocuous  substance  or  treatment,  he  would  derive 
from  them  the  same,  or  even  greater  benefits. 
At  least  he  would  suffer  no  reaction,  such  as 
follows  the  use  of  the  narcotic  drug,  alcohol,  from 
them. 

85 


86  ALCOHOL 


However,  there  is  no  longer  any  excuse  for 
giving  alcohol  as  a  medicine  or  as  a  stimulant. 
For,  apart  from  its  temporary  reflex  action,  due 
to  its  irritating  effect  upon  the  delicate  mucous 
membrane  lining  of  the  stomach,  alcohol,  if  it  has 
any  action  at  all,  is  a  depressant. 

Alcohol,  given  in  diluted  form,  so  as  to  avoid 
excitation  by  direct  irritation,  has  been  repeatedly 
given  to  dogs  and  men,  without  the  slightest 
appreciable  beneficial  effects  on  the  heart  action 
or  upon  the  circulation.  Given  in  concentrated 
form,  alcohol  quickens  the  heart  action  in  per- 
haps a  slightly  more  marked  degree  than  do  mus- 
tard, essential  oils,  and  other  irritants,  but  it  falls 
farther  afterwards.  The  pulse  pressure,  which  is 
temporarily  increased  immediately  after  the  irritat- 
ing reflex  action  of  the  fiery  liquid,  is  permanently 
decreased.  In  other  words,  the  pulse,  after  a 
momentary  increase  in  size,  becomes  smaller.  So 
if  you  want  a  temporary  "kick,"  without  paying 
too  high  a  price  in  loss  of  energy  for  it,  it  would 
be  far  better  to  take  a  capsule  of  mustard  or  red 
pepper  to  accomplish  this  purpose. 

The  experiments  which  settled  this  highly  com- 
plex problem  are  highly  technical  in  their  nature, 
and  were  made  under  the  strictest  test  conditions, 


THE  doctor's  verdict  87 

using  the  plethysmograph,  sphygmomanometer, 
and  other  instruments  of  precision  for  estimat- 
ing and  recording  circulatory  and  blood-pressure 
changes. 

When  moderately  strong  alcohol  —  mildly  diluted 
whiskey,  brandy,  etc.  —  were  administered,  the 
local  irritation  of  the  drug  produced  a  reflex  rise 
in  blood  pressure,  and  an  acceleration  of  the 
heart's  action,  which  reached  its  highest  in  about 
one  half -hour,  and  then  was  invariably  followed  by 
a  corresponding  depression. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  whiskey  or  alcohol  — 
well  diluted,  and  hence  not  irritating  —  was  em- 
ployed, neither  the  maximum  nor  the  minimum 
blood  pressure  showed  the  slightest  variation  that 
reasonably  could  be  attributed  to  the  action  of 
alcohol.  Dr.  Cabot  concludes  that  "So  far  as 
could  be  determined,  the  action  of  alcohol  upon 
the  circulation  is  nil,"  for  in  none  of  his  many 
experiments  was  there  any  marked  change  in  the 
heart  rate  or  blood  pressure  within  one  half  hour 
of  the  administration  of  the  alcohol,  unless  very 
large  doses  were  employed.  Then  it  was  found 
that  alcohol  acted  invariably  as  a  circulatory  and 
respiratory  depressant. 

This   depression   was  most  marked   upon   those 


88  ALCOHOL 


most  in  need  of  stimulus,  as  with  typhoid  or 
other  septic  cases.  So  the  more  a  patient  needs  a 
stimulant  the  less  he  gets  —  from  alcohol. 

Therefore,  while  alcohol  in  concentrated  form 
may  act  as  an  apparent  circulatory  stimulant,  it 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  true  tonic  or  stimulant, 
inasmuch  as  it  decreases  the  heart's  eflSciency  and 
lowers  the  pulse  pressure.  Alcohol  has  no  more 
claim  to  be  considered  a  tonic  or  a  medicine  than 
has  oil  of  mustard,  or  a  red-hot  potato. 

So  the  diversity  of  opinion  among  physicians 
concerning  the  value  of  alcohol  lies  in  its  psychic 
effect  upon  patients  who  are  habitual  users  of  the 
drug.  In  these  it  buoys  the  spirits,  and  engenders 
hopefulness  and  courage.  But  this  same  effect 
can  be  secured  equally  well  by  the  administration 
of  other  remedies  which  give  all  the  stimulating 
effects  of  alcohol  on  the  physical  organism,  without 
any  of  its  depressing  after-results.  And  the  time 
may  come,  in  the  not-distant  future,  when  to  pre- 
scribe alcohol  in  sickness  may  be  considered  mal- 
practice. For  alcohol  is  proved  entirely  too  lath-like 
a  weapon  to  oppose  to  Death,  when  the  stake  is  life. 

Many  conscientious  physicians  nowadays  refuse 
to  prescribe  alcohol,  or  even  medicines  in  an 
alcoholic    menstrum  —  not    alone    because    of    the 


THE  doctor's  verdict  89 

evil  effects  of  the  drug  upon  the  system,  but  also 
for  fear  of  arousing  a  dormant  alcoholic  craving 
in  some  susceptible  patient.  For  not  infrequently 
an  intense  desire  for  alcohol  is  flashed  through 
deficiently  resistant  cells  by  a  doctor's  incautious 
alcohol  prescription.  None  can  say  when  or  where 
atavistic  traits  may  flare  up.  A  youth  may  have 
had  a  grandfather  who  was  an  alcoholic  —  so 
powerfully  addicted  that  he  transmitted  the  craving 
to  his  grandchild  —  jumping,  as  is  the  biological 
custom,  a  sober  generation,  to  work  sinister  havoc 
upon  the  second.     The  results  are  obvious. 

This  brings  us  to  consider  "medicated"  wines, 

—  most  pestiferous  and  pernicious  insults  to  in- 
telligence. These  invariably  contain  a  large  per- 
centage of  alcohol,   and  various  other  substances 

—  such  as  malt,  beef  extracts,  pepsin,  iron,  or 
even  cocoa  leaves.  Wines  that  contain  cocoa 
extract  have  frequently  been  responsible  for  the 
formation  of  the  cocaine  habit,  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  and  insidious  of  drug  habits,  and  per- 
haps, of  all,  the  most  difficult  to  cure. 

Most  people  who  take  medicated  wines  honestly 
are  deceived  by  them,  since  they  look  upon  them 
as  medicine  rather  than  as  "booze."  Some  even 
imagine   that   the   presence   of   the   beef   extract, 


90  ALCOHOL 


malt,  or  iron,  renders  the  "dope"  harmless;  but 
this  is  far  from  true.  Indeed,  the  very  opposite 
is  the  case.  Pickling  malt  or  beef  juices  in  alcohol 
lengthens  the  period  required  for  their  digestion, 
and  thereby  renders  them  less  wholesome  as  food 
—  for,  of  course,  they  can  have  no  medicinal 
action,  as  such. 

A  few  cents  worth  of  freshly  made  Blaud  pills 
will  give  far  better  results  than  a  dollar  bottle  of 
"iron  tonic"  —  and  without  risking  the  creation 
of  an  alcohol  habit,  or  poisoning  the  protoplasm 
with  cheap  whiskey.  j 

Within  the  memory  of  many  of  us  who  are  only 
slightly  gray,  it  used  to  be  thought  that  a  jug  of 
whiskey,  a  barrel  of  codliver  oil,  and  a  glad,  free 
life  in  the  open  air,  constituted  a  sure  cure  for 
consumption.  But  we  know  better  now.  We 
know  now  that  whiskey  is  "bad  medicine,"  and 
especially  bad  for  lung  diseases,  because  of  its 
effects  upon  the  blood  vessels,  the  phagocytes,  and 
its  general  lowering  of  resistance. 

Dr.  Jacques  Bertillon,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Statistics  in  Paris,  and  world-renowned 
as  the  originator  of  the  famous  Bertillon  system  of 
measurement  —  has  given  as  his  opinion  that 
alcohol    may    well    be    called    the    principal    con- 


THE    doctor's    verdict  91 

tributing  cause  of  tuberculosis.  Supporting  this 
contention  he  cites  the  mortahty  statistics  of 
100,000  men  of  all  ages,  which  show  the  death 
rate  among  abstainers  to  be  less  than  half  that 
of  alcohol  users — 21.8%  among  alcoholic  patients, 
as  against  9.9%  among  abstainers. 

In  another  study  of  500  cases  of  tuberculosis, 
the  use  of  alcohol  was  followed  by  a  40%  higher 
mortality  than  occurred  among  those  receiving  no 
alcohol. 

In  France  similar  results  were  noted  —  im- 
moderate drinkers  dying  in  proportion  of  52.8%; 
moderate  drinkers  in  25  out  of  100  cases;  while 
abstainers  had  a  mortality  of  only  18.5  %. 

The  International  Tuberculosis  Congress,  meeting 
recently  in  Paris,  ajQfirmed  the  relationship  of 
alcohol  and  tuberculosis  when  it  officially  pro- 
claimed the  necessity  of  proceeding  against  both, 
if  tuberculosis  were  to  be  vanquished. 

Also,  the  poisonous  effect  of  alcohol  on  the 
circulation  causes  congestion,  the  formation  of 
toxins,  and  the  retention  of  waste  material.  The 
extra  labors  placed  upon  the  heart  in  an  endeavor 
to  overcome  this  condition  quickly  result  in  fa- 
tigue, which  falls  most  heavily  upon  the  lungs  and 
nerve  centres. 


92  ALCOHOL 


This  helps  explain  also  the  diminished  resistance 
of  alcoholics  to  pneumonia  as  well  as  to  tuberculosis 
and  other  lung  diseases.  This  was  emphasized 
during  a  recent  Anti-Alcoholic  Congress  in  London. 
A  study  of  more  than  2000  cases  of  pneumonia, 
half  of  which  were  treated  with  alcohol  and  half 
without,  showed  a  mortality  of  31  %  when  spirits 
"stimulation"  was  resorted  to,  and  only  19%  when 
alcohol  was  tabooed. 

In  two  large  cities  in  the  East  studies  of  death 
from  pneumonia  educed  the  significant  fact  that,  in 
patients  under  50  years  of  age,  from  65  %  to  70  % 
of  those  mortally  stricken  had  an  alcoholic 
history. 

And  this  suggests  that  if  singers  only  realized 
the  pernicious  effect  of  alcohol  —  especially  upon 
the  delicate  mucous  membrane  lining  of  their 
respiratory  passages  and  "voice  box"  —  they  would 
embrace  it  with  the  same  ardency  and  joyous 
abandon  that  they  would  a  pestilence. 

For  alcohol,  by  its  hardening  and  toughening 
effect  upon  the  square  foot  of  delicate  mucous 
membrane  which  the  singer  uses  in  his  business, 
causes  the  outer  layers  of  this  membrane  to 
degenerate  so  as  to  be  utterly  incapable  of  per- 
forming  normal    functioning,    until    such    time   as 


THE  doctor's  verdict  93 

new  tissue  shall  have  been  created  to  replace  that 
destroyed  by  alcohol  erosion.  This  accounts,  in 
part,  for  the  hoarseness  and  the  exaggerated 
resonance  of  the  "morning  after"  voice. 

Catarrhal  conditions  of  the  pharynx  and  vocal 
passages  are  excited  by  an  allopathic  indulgence 
in  beer  or  light  wines.  The  relaxation  of  the  uvula, 
soft  palate,  tonsils,  and  fauces  is  most  marked. 

Also,  it  is  alcohol,  and  patent  medicines  contain- 
ing alcohol,  which  are  largely  responsible  for  the 
prevalence  of  catarrh  of  the  stomach  and  intestines 
—  so  frequently  forerunners  of  grave  and  even 
fatal  maladies. 

In  cerebral  hemorrhage  more  than  50%  of  pa- 
tients dying  are  regular  users  of  spirits.  And 
many  so-called  cases  of  "heart  failure"  and  sud- 
den collapse  have  the  same  grim  history. 

In  Munich  they  have  worked  out,  with  pains- 
taking German  thoroughness,  the  exact  relation 
between  alcohol  and  degeneracy.  In  a  city  where 
every  man,  woman,  child,  and  suckling  infant 
consumes  a  per  capita  allotment  of  an  average  of 
287  pints  of  beer  a  year,  this,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, is  not  difficult. 

The  alcoholic  content  of  this  amount  of  beer  is 
equal  to  6  glasses  of  brandy  a  day  for  all  hands. 


94  ALCOHOL 


Professor  Bollinger,  who  made  autopsies  on  about 
6000  of  them,  assures  us  that  every  sixteenth 
male  in  Munich  dies  of  "Munich  beer  heart,"  and 
he  adds,  for  our  further  edification,  that  "One 
rarely  finds  in  Munich  a  faultless  heart  and  a 
normal  kidney  in  an  adult  man." 

Also,  long  experience  has  demonstrated  that  no 
case  of  rheumatism  or  neuritis  promises  a  successful 
outcome  unless  alcohol  be  absolutely  interdicted. 

While  not  distinctly  a  subject  of  medical  interest, 
it  might  yet  be  pertinent  to  note  that  alcohol 
seriously  mars  beauty  in  women.  It  roughens 
the  skin,  and  produces  discolorations  and  pimples. 
By  inhibiting  the  action  of  the  vasomotor  nerves 
—  which  regulate  the  expansion  and  contraction 
of  blood  vessels  —  it  causes  a  chronic  congestion 
in  the  tiny  capillaries  underlying  the  skin.  Which 
dilation,  if  long  enough  continued,  becomes  perma- 
nent, because  the  "elastic"  will  have  gone  out  of 
the  blood  vessels.  This  causes  the  skin  to  become 
red  and  flushed,  or,  in  cold  weather,  leaden  or  dull 
purple,  and  produces  the  characteristic  bulbous 
nose  associated  with  alcohol  drinking. 

Alcohol  also  makes  the  breasts  flabby,  by  robbing 
the  supporting  muscles  of  their  normal  vigor  and 
tone. 


THE  doctor's  verdict  95 


And,  as  alcohol  is  responsible  for  much  of  our 
present-day  neurasthenia,  it  follows  that  to  it  can 
properly  be  charged  a  considerable  proportion  of 
the  wrinkles,  crowsfeet,  and  haggardness  of  the 
neurasthenic.  This,  entirely  apart  from  its  subtle 
but  certain  effect  in  stamping  its  unmistakable 
stigmata  upon  the  countenance  of  every  woman 
who  regularly  uses  the  insidious  drug. 

Yet  alcohol  is  of  undoubted  value  —  used  ex- 
ternally. In  fevers,  particularly,  applied  to  the 
surface  of  the  body,  its  chemical,  water-absorbing, 
and  rapid  evaporation  properties  give  it  a  grateful 
refrigerant  action.  An  alcoholic  sponge  bath  means 
chemical  absorption  of  the  surface  moisture  of  the 
body,  with  diminishing  temperature,  and  relief  of 
capillary  congestion.  This  is  the  nearest  alcohol 
comes  to  being  a  medicine. 

For,  taken  internally,  alcohol  is  a  narcotic; 
paralyzing,  corroding,  or  irritating  every  variety 
of  tissue  in  the  body,  and  the  more  delicate  the 
tissue,  the  more  pronounced  the  action. 

Only  recently  it  has  been  demonstrated  that 
alcohol  hinders  the  formation  and  the  accumulation 
of  glycogen  in  the  liver,  thus  materially  lessening 
the  body's  natural  resistance  to  infection,  and 
decidedly   encouraging   auto-intoxication   from   in- 


96  ALCOHOL 


testinal  poisons.  The  observations  of  Combe, 
Bouchard,  von  Norden,  Bunge,  and  numerous 
other  authorities  have  demonstrated  beyond  cavil 
the  enormous  role  played  by  intestinal  auto- 
intoxication in  both  chronic  and  acute  disorders. 

In  certain  kinds  of  work,  alcohol,  by  breaking 
down  resistance,  renders  the  worker  especially 
susceptible  to  disease,  thereby  intensifying  the 
danger  involved  in  the  work  itself. 

For  instance,  those  who  work  with  lead,  as  paint- 
makers,  painters,  etc.,  are  much  more  liable  to 
lead-poisoning  as  drinkers  than  as  abstainers, 
because  the  natural  resistance  of  the  body  is 
lowered  in  trying  to  overcome  the  effects  produced 
by  the  lead. 

And  when  the  debilitating  effects  of  the  alcohol 
are  added  to  the  dangers  of  the  lead,  phosphorus, 
arsenic,  or  what-not,  the  resisting  forces  of  the 
body  are  overcome  much  more  quickly  than  if 
only  one  enemy  at  a  time  is  fought. 

The  same  principle  applies  also  to  those  who  are 
required  to  work  in  intense  heat,  because  the 
physical  and  nervous  resistance  have  been  depre- 
ciated by  the  action  of  alcohol.  Alcoholics  are, 
therefore,  peculiarly  liable  to  sun-stroke  and  heat 
prostration. 


THE  doctor's  verdict  97 


Alcohol  has  also  a  pronounced  and  degenerating 
effect  upon  the  teeth.  Dr.  Floras,  a  pupil  of  the 
eminent  von  Bunge,  and  surgeon  to  the  Anatolian 
Railway  in  Asia  Minor,  examined  the  teeth  of 
729  employees,  divided  into  the  strictly  abstinent 
Moslems,  and  those  who  had  fallen  into  European 
drinking  habits. 

Counting  the  number  of  decayed  teeth  in  each 
class  (their  habits  of  life,  except  for  drinking, 
being  identical),  he  found  that  the  average  number 
of  decayed  teeth  to  each  drinking  workman  was 
almost  double  that  found  in  the  abstinent  class. 
In  workmen  between  46  and  50,  this  average  rose 
to  nearly  4  times  as  many.  Professor  Bunge,  and 
other  physiologists,  have  since  repeatedly  corrobo- 
rated Dr.  Floras'  findings. 

It  is  also  significant  to  note  that  Dr.  Bunge 
finds  a  distinct  decline  in  nursing  power  accom- 
panying decay  of  the  teeth,  and  predicates  both 
as  being  due  to  one  cause,  viz.:    alcoholism. 

So  it  would  almost  seem,  as  Professor  Bunge 
says,  that,  to  dry  up  the  springs  of  race  degenera- 
tion, of  which  alcohol  is  the  chief  one,  is  a  problem 
the  solution  of  which  admits  of  less  delay  than  any 
other. 

Dr.    William    H.    Welch,    Ex-President    of    the 


98  ALCOHOL 


American  Medical  Association,  says:  "Alcohol  in 
sufficient  quantities  is  a  poison  to  all  living  organ- 
isms, both  animal  and  vegetable."  Dr.  Howard  A. 
Kelley  adds:  "It  is  clear,  in  the  light  of  experience 
and  of  recent  research  work,  that  alcohol  should  be 
classed  in  the  list  of  dangerous  drugs,  along  with 
morphine,  cocaine  and  chloral.  On  the  basis  of 
experience  I  appeal  to  my  colleagues  everywhere 
to  abjure  its  use." 

Dr.  T.  Alexander  MacNichol,  in  one  of  his 
addresses,  says:  "Fifty  years  ago  men  commonly 
believed  that  alcohol  was  food,  tonic,  and  stimulant. 
But  the  invention  of  instruments  of  precision,  and 
the  application  of  more  exact  methods  of  examination 
have  revolutionized  our  attitude.  In  the  light  of 
modern  science  alcohol  is  not  a  food,  a  tonic,  or  a 
stimulant." 

In  a  word,  science  has  classified  alcohol  as  a 
universal  protoplasmic  poison  to  all  forms  of  or- 
ganic life. 

And  Sir  Victor  Horsley  remarks:  "We  cannot 
estimate  what  minimal  amount  we  can  safely 
take  into  our  bodies  and  say  that  it  will  not  be 
detrimental  to  our  tissues." 

The  Society  for  the  Study  of  Inebriety,  concur- 
ring in  the  opinion  of  the  English   society,  finds 


THE  doctor's  verdict  99 

that  alcohol  has  no  tonic  or  stimulant  power; 
that  its  real  effects  are  invariably  narcotic  and 
paralyzant. 

Dr.  Louis  D.  Mason,  President  of  the  American 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Alcohol  and  other  Nar- 
cotics, delivered  an  address  recently,  in  which  he 
said: 

"A  large  majority  of  the  leading  and  influential 
practitioners  of  medicine  and  surgery  in  this 
country  and  Europe  are  excluding  from  their 
practice  alcohol  in  any  quantity,  and  also  denounc- 
ing it  in  any  form  as  a  beverage.  The  great 
hospitals  of  every  scientific  centre  reflect  their 
action." 

Dr.  T.  D.  Crothers,  of  Hartford,  after  a  life- 
time's study  of  alcohol  and  its  effects  upon  the 
human  organism,  concludes  that  "The  wide-spread 
use  of  alcohol  as  a  beverage,  and  the  delusive 
theories  which  have  grown  up  about  it  in  med- 
icine, are  due  exclusively  to  its  fascinating  nar- 
cotic action  for  the  relief  of  pain,  discomfort  and 
suffering.  It  is  not  stimulation  that  is  sought, 
but    narcotism,  anaesthesia    and  relief." 

So  twentieth  century  expert  medical  testimony 
renders  its  final  verdict  in  this:  Alcohol  has  no 
helpful  function  to  perform  for  the  human  system. 


100  ALCOHOL 


either  in  health  or  disease,  as  a  beverage  or  as  a 
medicine,  under  any  circumstances,  in  any  form 
or  quantity,  or  under  any  condition.  It  is  the 
most  deadly  and  far-reaching,  in  its  deleterious 
results,  of  all  epidemics.  It  has  no  antitoxin,  no 
vaccine  —  except  the  powerful  preventives  of  intel- 
lectual sterilization  and  mental  sanitation. 


Chapter  X 
ALCOHOL,   THE  DEATH'S  HEAD 

I  BELIEVE  it  is  generally  conceded  that  only 
live  men  are  efficient. 

Therefore,  it  might  be  well  to  consider  how 
much  of  his  life  a  drinker  loses  by  moderate 
drinking. 

The  Association  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents 
take  a  lively  interest  in  this  matter,  also  they 
exhibit  a  justifiable  pride  in  the  accuracy  of  their 
statistics. 

Based  upon  a  report  of  two  million  cases 
tabulated  from  the  records  of  American  and 
Canadian  life  insurance  companies  in  the  past 
25  years,  Dr.  Arthur  Hunter,  Chairman  of  the 
Central  Bureau,  Medico-Actuarial  Mortality  In- 
vestigation, claims  that  the  span  of  human  life 
is  reduced  four  to  six  years  as  a  result  of  the 
use  of  alcohol.  In  other  words,  consistent  users 
of    alcoholic    drinks   die   six    years    younger   than 

101 


102  ALCOHOL 


they  should,  and  one-time  consistent  drinkers, 
who  "reformed"  before  they  took  out  life  in- 
surance policies,  die  four  years  younger  than  they 
should. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  also  that  poetic  justice 
makes  saloon  keepers  and  liquor  dealers  suffer 
maximum  loss  of  life.  Those  connected  with  the 
sale  and  manufacture  of  liquor,  especially  hotel 
proprietors  and  saloon  keepers,  have  an  extra 
mortality  of  70%;  that  is,  on  account  of  their 
occupation,  their  lifetimes  are  reduced  on  an  aver- 
age of  about  6  years. 

Mortality  among  men  who  at  one  time  used 
intoxicants,  but  who  had  reformed  prior  to  taking 
out  insurance  policies,  is  50%,  or  a  reduction  of 
more  than  4  years  in  the  normal  life  expectancy. 
So,  even  though  a  steady  drinker  became  a  veri- 
table saint  of  sobriety,  he  would  be  a  shorter-lived 
saint  than  he  would  have  been  had  he  always 
been  a  saint. 

The  men  who  use  alcoholics  daily,  but  not  to 
excess.  Dr.  Hunter  divides  into  two  groups: 

A.  Those  who  take  2  glasses  of  beer  or  1  glass 
of  whiskey  a  day. 

B.  Those  who  take  more  than  that,  but  are 
not  "excessive"  drinkers. 


ALCOHOL,  THE  DEATH's  HEAD   103 

The  expert's  investigation  disclosed  that  the  mor- 
tahty  in  the  second  group  was  50%  higher  than 
in  the  first.  Also,  the  New  York  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company,  from  1875  to  1899,  found 
that  among  insured  abstainers  the  death  rate 
was  but  78%  of  the  expected  rate;  among  non- 
abstainers  it  was  96%. 

On  the  basis  of  their  statistics,  insurance  men 
calculate  that  if  Russia,  for  instance,  persists 
in  banishing  all  alcoholic  beverages  from  within 
its  borders,  a  million  lives  will  be  saved  to 
that  awakened  country  within  the  next  ten 
years. 

Many  also  are  prompted  by  the  white  maggots 
of  despair  that  crawl  in  the  brains  of  alcoholics 
to  solve  their  difficulties  by  making  their  hasty 
quietus.  According  to  the  United  States  mortality 
reports,  23%  of  the  suicides  in  the  United  States 
are  directly  traceable  to  intemperance.  Between 
1900  and  1908  it  is  estimated  that  11,986  persons 
killed  themselves  because  of  alcohol. 

E.  Bonnell  Phelps,  who  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  careful  and  conservative  of  statisticians, 
in  his  "Mortality  of  Alcohol,"  claims  that  65,897 
deaths  per  year  are  due  to  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors.    This   estimate   signifies   one   adult   death 


104  ALCOHOL 


every  8  minutes,  or,  in  other  words,  1  man  in 
every  7 J  who  die  in  the  United  States  dies  because 
of  drink. 

The  claim  is  also  made  that,  of  the  1000  deaths 
among  drinkers,  440,  or  nearly  one-half,  are  due 
to  alcohol. 

If  we  concede  that  alcohol  is  responsible,  as  the 
chief  causative  factor,  in  many  cases  of  Bright's 
Disease,  tuberculosis,  heart  disease  and  fatty 
degeneration,  pneumonia,  hardening  of  the  arteries, 
degeneration  of  the  liver  and  pancreas,  apoplexy, 
suicide,  accidental  injury,  paralysis,  chronic  gout 
and  rheumatism,  toxemia  and  auto-intoxication, 
dementias,  delirium  tremens  and  alcoholic  insan- 
ities, increased  susceptibility  to  occupational  and 
infectious  diseases,  inability  to  withstand  surgical 
operations  which  if  performed  might  have  saved 
life,  increased  infant  mortality  from  decreased 
powers  of  lactation  in  nursing  mothers,  gastritis, 
and  epilepsy,  it  might  almost  seem  as  though  the 
enthusiasts  have  underestimated,  rather  than  over- 
estimated, alcoholic  mortality. 

On  the  weight  of  the  highest  scientific  authority 
in  the  world,  alcohol  is  the  most  distinct  and 
prominent  of  all  causes  of  death  in  persons  under 
50  years  of  age,  and  one  of  the  most  deadly,  the 


ALCOHOL,  THE  DEATH's  HEAD    105 

most  far-reaching,  and  the  most  degenerative  of 
all  the  causes  of  mortality. 

Professor  Kraepelin  insists  that  not  only  is  alco- 
hol the  immediate  cause  of  approximately  a  third  of 
all  his  cases  of  mental  disease  in  Munich,  but  that 
in  a  large  series  of  pathological  conditions  — 
including  paralysis,  epilepsy,  and  arterio-sclerosis 
—  it  is  the  chief  factor,  and  one  of  the  most 
important  causes  of  degeneracy.  Confining  his 
observations  to  only  one  clinic,  he  reported  that  of 
836  men  treated,  253,  or  33  %,  were  there  because 
of  alcohol  and  its  effects.  Women  do  much  bet- 
ter— only  3.6%  of  them  requiring  attention  because 
of  alcoholic  degeneration. 

Beer  —  the  kind  that  made  Munich  famous  — 
played  the  heavy  villain  in  the  tragedy  of  these 
wrecked  lives,  although  40%  of  the  victims  drank 
schnaps  as  well. 

In  this  country  the  ratio  is  slightly  lower,  but 
high  enough,  in  all  conscience.  For,  it  is  definitely 
established  that  fully  30%  of  the  men,  and  10% 
of  all  women  admitted  to  State  Hospitals  in  the 
United  States  are  suffering  from  conditions  brought 
about,  directly  or  indirectly,  through  alcohol. 

The  DaneSj  who  have  a  passion  for  tabulation 
and  statistics  second  only  to  the  Germans,  have 


106  ALCOHOL 


proved  the  very  interesting  and  significant  fact 
that  every  pint  of  brandy  a  man  drinks  shortens 
his  Hfe  by  11  hours,  and  every  pint  of  beer  he 
consumes  curtails  his  earthly  sojourn  by  an  average 
of  25  minutes. 

The  method  of  arriving  at  these  astonishing 
results  is  simplicity  itself.  The  Governmental  Com- 
mission sent  to  all  Danish  physicians  a  request 
for  information  concerning  deaths  among  adults 
occurring  in  their  practice  for  one  year,  with 
especial  reference  as  to  whether  or  not  the  cause 
of  these  deaths  could  be  traced  to  drink.  Only 
such  cases  were  credited  to  alcohol  as  were  ad- 
mittedly drink-engendered.  Answers  came  con- 
cerning 4309  dead  men  and  4280  women  —  a 
trifle  over  one-third  of  the  mortality  in  Denmark 
for  that  year. 

The  tabulation  of  these  reports  show  that  there 
was,  as  Hamlet  observed,  something  rotten  in  the 
state  of  Denmark.  For  23  %  of  male  deaths  and 
3%  of  mortality  among  the  females  were  shown 
to  have  been  caused  by  the  misuse  of  alcohol. 
So  the  Danish  statisticians  got  a  sheet  of  paper  and 
a  stubby  pencil  and  did  some  figuring. 

This  was  the  problem:  If  all  these  alcohol 
deaths  were  eliminated  from  the  total,  the  average 


ALCOHOL    THE    DEATH's    HEAD  107 

longevity  of  a  man  of  20  would  rise  from  45.4  to 
49.3  years;  and  of  a  woman  from  47.5  to  48.1  — 
respectively  3.9  and  .6  years  —  which,  by  the  way, 
is  slightly  less  than  our  American  insurance  experts 
have  found  in  their  recent  investigations  concern- 
ing this  matter. 

Given  these  figures,  and  using  the  per  capita 
consumption  of  alcohol  in  Denmark  as  a  divisor, 
the  results  proved,  as  we  have  seen,  that  every 
pint  of  brandy  consumed  steals  11  hours  out  of  a 
man's  normal  expectation  of  life,  and  every  pint 
of  beer  drunk  cheats  him  out  of  approximately 
25  minutes  of  earthly  activity. 

So,  a  Congress  of  800  of  the  most  eminent  pro- 
fessors and  medical  men  in  Germany  conclude 
that : 

"Alcohol,  even  in  moderate  quantities,  causes 
disturbances  in  the  brain's  action,  paralyzes  crit- 
ical capacity,  power  of  will,  and  the  ethical  and 
esthetic  sense.  It  is  apoison,  and  no  longer  may 
be  classed  with  foods.  Its  use  Towers  resistance  to 
sTcEnesses  andsEbrtens  life.  Those  who  abstain 
wholly  have  a  greater  capacity  for  work  and  endur- 
ance, both  intellectual  and  physical." 

And  the  International  Conference  on  Alcoholism 
—  composed  of  scientific  men  from  all  the  great 


108  ALCOHOL 


nations  —  agreed  with  this  when,  after  comparing 
and  confirming  the  results  of  world-wide  investi- 
gation, they  drew  up  a  report  defining  alcohol  as 
"a  poison,  destructive  and  degenerating  to  the 
human  organism,"  and  added  that  "its  use  should 
be  limited  and  restricted  in  the  same  way  as  the 
use  of  other  poisonous  drugs." 


Chapter  XI 
ALCOHOL  AND  ACCIDENTS 

ALCOHOL  is  a  quicksand,  swallowing  the  life, 
health,  efficiency,  and  substance  of  the  human 
race.  And  not  the  least  of  its  black  record  is  its 
accident  score.  For  the  befogging  of  brains  with 
beer  renders  the  possessors  of  the  former  extremely 
susceptible  to  accident.  Professor  Dr.  Guttstadt 
has  noted  that,  for  every  1000  injured  in  the 
trade  unions  of  Germany,  43  were  injured  by 
accident;  while  among  the  brewers  the  number 
rose  to  109  per  1000.  In  Berlin  the  proportion  is 
even  greater,  for  in  one  year  there  were  recorded 
412  accidents  among  every  1000  insured  brewery 
workers  (2208  accidents  among  5364  brewers 
insured) . 

In  the  building  trades  —  including  the  extra 
hazardous  occupation  of  roofing  —  the  number  of 
accidents  was  but  Q5  per  1000.  It  would  almost 
seem  a  merciful  injunction  to  shout  at  a  drinking 

109 


110  ALCOHOL 


workman:  "Get  away  from  that  wheelbarrow. 
You  are  not  fit  to  handle  machinery  anyway." 

Every  year,  500,000  workmen  are  killed  or  in- 
capacitated in  the  United  States  by  accident. 
Of  these,  from  30,000  to  50,000  are  killed,  or, 
roughly,  one  life  for  every  15  minutes.  These 
500,000  figure  a  financial  loss  to  the  country  of  not 
less  than  $250,000,000  annually.  Industrial  acci- 
dents are  due  in  part  to  mechanical  causes,  in 
part  to  human  causes,  and  in  part  to  a  combination 
of  the  two.  Among  the  human  factors  in  accidents 
is  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol. 

"The  problem  of  safety,"  says  James  McCrea, 
President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  "is  not 
altogether  a  question  of  rules  and  enforcement,  of 
appliances  and  their  application,  but  of  inherent 
self-restraint  and  control." 

It  is  this  function  of  self-control  that  alcohol 
first  strikes  down  in  its  attack  upon  the  drinker. 

With  this  in  mind,  the  Pittsburgh  Steel 
Company,  employing  5250  men  at  a  monthly 
expense  of  $300,000,  went  so  far  as  to  address  a 
letter  to  the  license  judges  of  their  county,  pro- 
testing earnestly  against  the  licensing  of  saloons. 
They  said: 

"We  have  experienced  a  growing  inefficiency  and 


ALCOHOL    AND    ACCIDENTS  111 

an  increased  carelessness  in  the  mills,  resulting  in 
accidents  and  deaths,  largely  attributable  to  the 
excessive  use  of  beer,  whiskey,  and  other  alcoholic 
drinks.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  such  accidents  are 
attributable  directly  or  indirectly  to  liquor.  Effi- 
ciency has  been  so  reduced  in  recent  years  as  to 
show  that  at  least  one-tenth  of  our  pay-roll  is  paid 
out  for  services  not  rendered,  and  20%  of  the 
money  we  pay  our  men  is  spent  upon  liquor  and 
lost  to  the  use  of  their  families." 

Mr.  Charles  L.  Huston,  Vice-President  of  the 
Lukens  Iron  and  Coal  Company  of  Pennsylvania, 
claims  that  there  was  a  decrease  of  54%  in  the 
number  of  accidents  the  first  six  "dry"  months  in 
Coatesville,  compared  with  the  corresponding  months 
of  the  previous  year,  when  the  town  had  license. 

In  1912  an  engineer  on  the  Lackawanna  Road, 
who  had  been  on  an  alcoholic  debauch  the  night 
before,  ran  his  train  past  three  signals  warning 
him  to  stop.  He  proved  tragically  that  alcohol 
is  likely  to  render  one  less  able  to  proceed  correctly 
and  act  upon  signals,  as  his  deficiency  cost  40 
lives,  and  more  or  less  grievously  injured  75 
passengers.  It  was  after  this  accident  that  Mr. 
George  A.  Cullen,  Traffic  Manager,  issued  this  rule: 
"There  is  only  one  absolutely  safe  course  to  be 


112  ALCOHOL 


followed  by  a  trainman,  and  that  is  to  abstain 
altogether  from  the  use  of  liquor.  Our  men  must 
not  drink  or  enter  saloons  hereafter,  even  when 
off  duty." 

Superintendent  Johnson,  of  the  American  Car 
Foundry  Works,  testifies  that  industrial  accidents 
due  to  alcohol  decreased  over  one-third  after  an 
evangelistic  campaign  which  induced  many  work- 
men to  sign  the  pledge.  And  Mr.  W.  R.  Fox, 
Vice-President  of  the  Fox  Typewriter  Company, 
writes  me:  "We  have  had  only  2  serious  accidents 
in  the  plant  in  20  years.  One  was  a  very  serious 
injury  to  a  man  we  afterwards  learned  was  intoxi- 
cated, who  had  his  face  torn  open  while  trying  out 
a  grind-stone." 

Carefully  compiled  German  statistics  show  that 
in  accidents  requiring  less  than  4  weeks  for  re- 
covery, at  all  ages  between  15  and  74  years, 
drinking  workmen  had  from  95  %  to  220  %  more 
accidents  per  1000  men  than  non-drinking  work- 
men. In  more  serious  accidents  requiring  more 
than  4  weeks  for  recovery,  drinking  workmen  had 
an  even  more  excessive  rate. 

In  America  medical  directors  of  three  great  life 
insurance  companies  estimate  that  from  7  %  to  43  % 
of  accidents  are  due,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 


ALCOHOL    AND    ACCIDENTS  113 


to  alcohol.  Seven  per  cent  of  railway  accidents, 
8%  of  street  car  ace*  dents,  10%  of  automobile 
accidents,  8%  of  those  due  to  vehicles  and  horses, 
43%  of  heat  prostrations  and  sun-strokes,  7% 
of  machinery  accidents,  8%  of  all  accidents  in 
mines  and  quarries,  13%  of  drownings,  and  10% 
of  gunshot  wounds,  are  sustained,  either  in  whole 
or  in  part,  because  of  alcohol. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Hitchcock,  Chief  Surgeon  of  the 
Standard  Accident  Insurance  Company,  informs 
me  that:  "Our  long  experience  with  all  kinds  of 
accident  claims  has  served  to  confirm  the  general 
belief  that  alcoholics  do  not  present  normal  re- 
sistance, and  that  long-continued  and  persistent 
use  of  alcohol  invariably  so  lowers  vitality  as  very 
much  to  increase  the  length  of  disability  resulting 
from  accident." 

A  most  interesting  relation  between  alcohol  and 
accidents  is  found  in  the  statistics  of  the  days  of 
the  week  on  which  accidents  occur.  The  Zurich 
Building  Trades  Association,  from  records  covering 
7  years,  found  that  an  average  of  22%  of  the 
week's  accidents  occurred  on  Monday,  an  average 
of  15.7%  on  the  other  days  of  the  week.  In  other 
words,  there  were  approximately  three  accidents 
on  Monday  as  against  two  on  the  other  days. 


114  ALCOHOL 


This  has  been  corroborated  by  the  German 
Imperial  Insurance  OflBce,  which  compiled  statistics 
for  two  decades,  commencing  in  1887.  Its  findings 
showed  that  invariably  Monday  averaged  the 
highest  record  for  industrial  accidents.  The  high 
accident  rate  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  use,  or 
abuse,  of  alcohol,  and  the  fatigue  following  the 
Saturday  and  Sunday  debauch.  For,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  effects  of  alcohol  persist  24  hours  or  more 
after  drinking,  even  though  the  drinker  may,  so 
far  as  the  naked  eye  is  concerned,  be  free  from 
evidences  of  intoxication.  Still,  this  "hang-over" 
from  the  Saturday  night  and  Sunday  drinking, 
added  perhaps  to  the  factor  of  loss  of  technical 
skill  during  the  week-end  rest,  pushes  up  the 
Monday  accident  rate. 

Alcohol  increases  accidents  because  it  impairs 
faculties  that  ordinarily  would  take  necessary 
precautions  against  danger;  it  impairs  nerve 
control,  causing  unsteadiness  of  hand  or  dangerous 
missteps;  it  lessens  ability  to  recognize  danger; 
and  it  interferes  with  ability  to  avert  danger  when 
recognized.  Alcohol  also  begets  a  certain  exuberant 
self-confidence,  which  in  the  presence  of  danger 
amounts  to  recklessness.  The  man  who  has  im- 
plicit  confidence    in    his    own    powers  —  a    confi- 


ALCOHOL    AND    ACCIDENTS  115 

dence  superinduced  by  drink  —  is  the  man  who  is 
likely  to  attempt  repairs  on  his  machine  while  it 
is  yet  in  motion,  or  to  do  other  equally  foolish  or 
reckless  things. 

As  illustrating  the  impairment  in  the  power  of 
judgment,  tests  made  in  eye  measurements  demon- 
strated that  the  amount  of  error  after  taking  a 
bottle  of  light  wine  was  more  than  three  times  as 
great  as  at  periods  when  no  alcohol  was  taken. 
The  judgment  which  errs  to  this  extent  as  to  the 
distance  between  the  hand  and  the  moving  belt, 
saw,  cog,  die,  or  knife,  may  at  any  moment  entail 
upon  the  owner  of  that  hand  irreparable  loss. 

This  impairment  is  emphasized  in  United  States 
Senate  Document  No.  645,  Volume  11:  "The 
margin  of  safety  in  modern  industry  is  small. 
It  is  measured  too  frequently  by  fractions  of  an 
inch.  Reduce  the  alertness  and  the  exactness  with 
which  the  body  responds  to  the  necessities  of  labor, 
and  by  so  much  have  you  increased  the  liability 
that  the  hand  will  be  displaced  that  fraction  that 
means  mutilation." 

Hearing  also  is  made  much  less  acute  by  alcohol, 
particularly  in  the  matter  of  distinguishing  sounds 
and  interpreting  their  meaning.  This  is  a  fact  of 
great  significance  to  the  workman  who,  amid  the 


116  ALCOHOL 


roar  and  jar  of  machinery,  should  be  able  quickly 
to  detect  the  slightest  changes  in  sound  which 
may  indicate  that  something  has  gone  wrong. 

It  is  not  the  obviously  intoxicated  man  who  is 
the  greatest  source  of  accident.  Any  competent 
foreman  can  pick  such  a  man  out  as  far  as  he  can 
see  him,  and  promptly  pack  him  home.  The  man, 
however,  who  is  laboring  under  the  results  of 
heavy  drinking  may  show  few  or  no  outward  signs 
of  it,  and  yet  be  definitely  deficient  in  the  control 
of  his  faculties. 

It  is  fair  to  state,  however,  that  with  a  shorter 
work  day,  permitting  workers  to  stop  before  the 
physical  limit  of  exhaustion  has  been  reached,  and 
before  their  toxemia-loaded  systems  cry  out  for 
some  stimulant  to  tide  them  over  their  arduous 
period  —  there  is  a  distinct  falling  off  in  the  desire 
to  indulge  in  liquor. 

Mr.  Boyd  Fisher,  Vice-President  of  the  Club  of 
Detroit  Executives,  recognized  this  when  he  said: 
"A  good  many  Detroit  employers  are  wise  enough 
to  see  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  excessive 
drinking  is  a  direct  result  of  too  long  hours  at 
monotonous  work.  Wherever  they  have  shortened 
the  working  hours,  they  have  minimized  the  drink- 
ing and  secured  a  compensative  increase  in  output." 


ALCOHOL    AND    ACCIDENTS  117 

The  Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Company  fur- 
nishes an  example  of  this.  This  firm  voluntarily 
shortened  the  working  day  from  9.5  hours  to  8 
hours.  A  noticeable  decrease  in  drinking  followed, 
and  what  is  equally  gratifying  from  the  economist's 
standpoint,  a  slight  average  increase  in  the  output. 

The  loss  to  the  employer  through  alcoholized 
employees  does  not  end  with  the  causation  and 
result  of  accidents  or  other  economic  loss.  For  it 
is  well  known  that  the  body  tissues  of  the  steady 
drinker  are  often  so  weakened  by  alcohol  that 
injuries  affect  him  much  more  seriously  than  they 
do  the  abstainer.  Recovery  is  delayed,  and  even 
death  may  occur  as  the  result  of  an  accident  which 
under  ordinary  circumstances  should  have  termi- 
nated in  recovery.  The  Leipzig  Sick  Benefit 
Societies  found  that  alcoholists,  from  25  to  34 
years  of  age,  lost  372  days  in  recovering  from 
wounds  for  every  100  days  lost  by  the  non-drinker, 
while  their  death  ratio  was  as  4  to  1. 

This  indicates  an  undoubted  increase  for  com- 
pensation expenses  for  the  drinker  or  his  family 
for  three  salient  reasons:  the  greater  frequency  of 
accidents,  a  more  protracted  recovery,  and  a 
heavier  death  toll. 

The  South  Australian  Benefit  Societies'  statistics 


118  ALCOHOL 


point  clearly  to  the  industrial  health  loss  through 
drink  by  comparing  abstainers  and  non-abstainers. 
Societies  requiring  abstinence  as  a  tenet  of  their 
creed  average  not  more  than  one-half  as  much 
sickness  per  member  as  Societies  which  do  not 
exact  abstinence.  In  point  of  duration  of  illness 
the  abstaining  men  lost  from  work  on  an  average 
of  6.4  weeks,  while  the  non-abstaining  Society 
members  lost  10.9  weeks.  The  death  rate  was  also  2 
to  1  in  favor  of  those  to  whom  alcohol  was  tabooed. 

Interruption  of  work  by  more  frequent  and 
longer  protracted  sickness  among  drinkers  is  only 
one  of  many  losses  imposed  upon  industry.  Sta- 
tistics prove  that  the  death  rate  of  drinkers  tends 
to  increase  during  the  prime  of  life  —  from  25  to 
45  or  50  years  of  age.  These  should,  by  rights, 
be  the  years  of  highest  activity  in  physical  and 
mental  powers.  The  years,  therefore,  spent  in 
acquiring  skill  and  efficiency,  fail  to  bring  their 
maximum  return  if  life  be  prematurely  cut  off, 
or  if  the  worker  be  disabled  intermittently  or 
permanently  by  disease. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  Industrial  Prohibition 
spreads;  that  the  Insurance  Department  of  the 
State  Industrial  Accident  Commission  in  Los  An- 
geles   has    ruled    that   an  employee  injured   after 


/ 


ALCOHOL    AND    ACCIDENTS  119 

drinking  is  not  entitled  to  compensation;  and  that 
the  United  States  Government  found  that  77%  of 
upwards  of  7000  employers  discriminated  against 
even  moderate  drinkers.  Also  that  the  business 
man  is  more  and  more  prone  to  toast  the  drink- 
ing workman  in  this  trenchant  alliteration:  "The 
last  man  hired  —  the  first  man  fired  —  the  man 
who  drinks." 


\ 


Chapter  XII 
ALCOHOL  AND  WAR 

AS  might  be  expected,  that  condition  which,  if 
carried  to  excess,  makes  a  man  see  blue 
rhinoceroses  —  and  two  of  them  at  that  —  sadly 
interferes  with  a  soldier's  killing  powers.  If  a 
soldier  is  to  be  really  eflScient  he  must  be  able  to 
shoot  accurately;  he  must  have  a  good  eye  for 
distances,  and  be  capable  of  stabbing,  cutting, 
slashing,  and  hacking  intelligently  and  expedi- 
tiously; he  must  remain  steadfast  under  an  amount 
of  hardship  that  would  kill  a  goat;  he  must  have 
a  heart  and  muscles  that  will  stand  long  forced 
marches.  Altogether  he  must  be  a  splendid  human 
animal,  "fit"  in  the  highest  possible  degree. 

Now,  because  of  the  fact  that  they  can  be  kept 
under  close  observation  —  like  hospital  patients  — 
and  are  even  more  amenable  to  discipline  than  are 
most  hospital  patients  —  the  armies  of  the  world 
have  furnished  us  with  instructive  and  highly  edi- 
fying alcoholic  data. 

121 


122  ALCOHOL 


Amid  such  a  lush  and  luxuriant  profusion  of 
startling  and  valuable  statistical  material,  it  is 
difficult  and  embarrassing  to  select  examples  for 
these  pages. 

Accurate  shooting  presupposes  a  clear  brain, 
bright  eye,  and  steady  nerves;  the  same  equip- 
ment a  bridge  builder  needs  when,  on  a  terrifyingly 
precarious  footing  200  feet  in  the  air,  he  tosses  or 
catches  the  white-hot  rivets  intended  to  bind  the 
heavy  girders  in  a  metallic  embrace. 

The  same  physical  and  mental  eflficiency  is 
required  of  an  automobile  driver  who  must  judge 
speed  and  distance  with  unerring  accuracy,  in 
order  to  avoid  running  down  pedestrians,  or  escape 
wrecking  his  car. 

The  same  keenness  of  eye  and  sureness  of  judg- 
ment is  demanded  of  a  woodsman  felling  giant 
trees,  or  driving  great  logs  through  turbulent 
waters.  The  same  skill,  strength,  and  endurance 
are  necessary  in  the  railroad  man,  the  telegraph 
operator,  the  engineer,  the  sailor  —  in  fact,  in  any 
and  all  whose  work  is  not  desultory,  or  automatic. 

With  the  facts  in  hand,  it  should  not  be  difficult 
for  us  to  apply  their  meaning  and  bearing  upon 
almost  any  specific  occupation.  So  let  us  examine 
more  evidence. 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  123 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Fuerer  demon- 
strated that  relatively  small  amounts  of  alcohol 
kept  a  man  intoxicated  more  than  48  hours.  The 
subject,  of  course,  did  not  know  he  was  in  that 
condition  described  by  Burns  as  "a  wee  bit  drappie 
in  the  eeye,"  but  the  memory  and  idea  association 
tests  knew  it  —  and  there  was  no  guess-work  about 
their  verdict. 

Shortly  after  the  report  of  the  Heidelberg 
investigation,  a  Swedish  oflScer,  Lieutenant  Bengt 
Boy,  of  the  Karlskrona  Grenadier  Regiment,  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  translating  Fuerer  and  Kraepelin 
into  terms  of  military  efficiency. 

Selecting  three  corporals  and  three  privates,  all 
accustomed  to  drink,  he  placed  a  target  at  a  dis- 
tance of  300  meters,  and  tested  the  shooting 
capacity  of  his  squad  in  various  ways  —  with  and 
without  alcohol. 

The  dose  of  alcohol,  taken  a  half  hour  before 
beginning  the  experiment,  was  two-thirds  of  a 
wine  glass  of  Cognac  (equal  to  a  pint  of  "domestic" 
beer),  in  addition  to  the  same  quantity  of  punch 
on  the  evening  before.  This  was  preparatory  to 
determining  accuracy  —  or  the  lack  of  it  —  in 
shooting.  For  the  endurance  test  two-thirds  of 
a  pint  of  beer  was  given.     Even  the  most  captious 


124  ALCOHOL 


must  admit  that  this  was  moderate  drinking  — 
the  kind  the  average  man  considers  harmless,  or 
perhaps  even  necessary. 

The  tests  under  alcohol  influence  however 
showed,  without  a  single  exception,  a  decreased 
number  of  hits,  although,  as  has  been  frequently 
noted  in  these  psychic  experiments,  the  subjects 
were  certain  that  they  had  done  better  by  reason 
of  the  "stimulating"  effects  of  their  liquor  or 
beer. 

Lieutenant  Boy  also  made  trials  with  precision 
shooting;  rapid  firing  —  to  test  the  number  of 
shots  which  could  be  discharged  in  a  half  minute  — 
salvo  firing,  and  again,  to  prove  endurance,  with 
50  shots  fired  in  rapid  succession. 

The  average  number  of  points  for  the  men  and 
series  in  the  accuracy  experiments  was: 

In  6  series  without  alcohol  —  corporals,  19.22 
points;    privates,  15.24. 

In  7  series  with  alcohol  —  corporals,  17.95  points; 
privates,  11.34. 

In  the  non-alcoholic  tests  for  rapid  firing  the 
number  of  false  shots  —  shots  which  completely 
missed  the  target  —  averaged  but  4.6.  Under  the 
gentle  influence  of  the  very  moderate  liquor  allow- 
ance, the  false  shots  ran  up  to  an  average  of  27. 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  125 

Had  these  soldiers  partaken  of  anything  like  the 
quantity  of  liquor  many  thousands  of  our  fellow 
citizens  consider  necessary  in  order  adequately  to 
celebrate  "pay  night,"  Lieutenant  Boy's  awkward 
squad  would  have  required  a  barn  for  a  target. 
And  even  then  they  might  have  missed  a  fair 
proportion  of  shots,  unless  perhaps  they  happened 
to  be  placed  inside  the  barn. 

In  the  endurance  tests  of  200  shots  apiece  there 
was  an  average  of  359.5  points  when  no  beer  was 
taken.  But  with  two-thirds  of  a  pint  of  beer 
under  their  cartridge  belts  the  soldiers  averaged 
only  277.5  points. 

"Assuming,"  said  Lieutenant  Boy,  in  reporting 
his  results,  "that  a  hitting  value  of  4  points  is 
equivalent  to  putting  one  man  out  of  action,  in 
the  first  abstinent  series  99  men  would  be  struck 
by  the  200  shots;  in  the  beer  series  only  69  —  a 
difference  of  30  men." 

One  understands,  in  view  of  these  results,  why 
they  say  in  Sweden  that  "Lieutenant  Boy  has 
shot  moderate  drinking  to  death." 

It  may  be  well  here  to  emphasize  that  Lieu- 
tenant Boy's  was  not  an  isolated  experience.  His 
results  have  been  duplicated  and  corroborated 
time    and    again.     One    classical    and    even    more 


126  ALCOHOL 


convincing  demonstration  was  reported  by  a  cap- 
tain in  the  Bersaglieri  —  a  corps  of  the  Italian 
service  —  whose  regiment,  under  the  influence  of  a 
pint  of  Chianti  per  man,  averaged  only  3  hits  out 
of  30  shots,  while  on  their  "normal"  days  they 
averaged  from  25  to  26  hits  out  of  30. 

This  deficiency,  which  the  "temperate"  use  of 
beer  and  wine  causes  soldiers  in  the  calculating 
of  distances,  in  setting  of  sights,  in  loading,  in 
firing,  and  in  general  judgment  of  a  situation,  is 
paralleled  by  many  other  injuries  to  an  army's 
effectiveness. 

For  one  thing,  alcohol  lowers  marching  capacity. 
This  has  been  repeatedly  tested  in  various  of  the 
continental  armies,  notably  in  the  Bavarian  regi- 
ments. For  example,  in  the  "cold  weather  march," 
a  trial  of  marching  capacity  was  made  over  approx- 
imately 65  miles  of  road  between  non-abstainers 
and  abstainers.  Of  the  first  category,  only  46% 
completed  their  task.  While,  of  the  sober  contin- 
gent, 92%  reached  their  goal.  Of  the  first  25 
men  to  arrive  at  their  destination,  63%  were  total 
abstainers. 

General  Lord  Kitchener  now  enforces  abstinence 
among  his  troops.  He  has  profited  by  the  cam- 
paigning  experiences   of   General   Wolseley   of   the 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  127 

British  army,  who  tried  out  the  effects  of  alco- 
hol drinking  on  endurance.  To  some  of  his  men 
General  Wolseley  gave  alcohol,  to  others  none. 
The  results  were  carefully  noted  by  his  officers  and 
regimental  surgeons,  and  demonstrated  conclusively 
that  the  men  receiving  no  alcohol  were  livelier, 
fresher,  and  in  more  buoyant  spirits,  and  also 
marched  better  than  those  who  had  alcohol.  In 
fact,  the  difference  was  so  marked  that  later. 
General  Kitchener  gave  strict  orders  that  no 
alcoholic  drinks  of  any  kind  were  to  be  taken  with 
the  army. 

The  African  explorer,  Dr.  Peters,  saw  in  the 
successes  of  the  Japanese  army  in  Manchuria  the 
first  decisive  victory  of  the  temperate  peoples  over 
the  alcoholized  nations  of  the  world. 

Count  von  Haeseler,  of  the  German  Army, 
asserts:  "The  soldier  who  abstains  altogether  can 
accomplish  more,  march  better,  and  is  a  better 
soldier  than  the  man  who  drinks  even  moderately. 
Brandy  is  the  worst  poison  of  all.  Next  to  it 
comes  beer." 

Sir  Frederick  Treves,  Bart.,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  scholarly  of  living  surgeons,  adds 
this  concerning  alcohol  and  deficiency:  "It  is  well 
known  that  troops   cannot  march   on   alcohol.     I 


128  ALCOHOL 


was  with  the  Relief  Column  that  moved  on  to 
Ladysmith.  In  that  column  were  some  30,000 
men.  The  first  who  dropped  out  were  not  the 
tall  men,  or  the  short  men,  or  the  big  men,  or  the 
little  men  —  but  the  drinkers." 

And  General  Leonard  Wood  writes  me  to  the 
effect  that  "My  personal  impression  is  that  the 
general  effect  of  alcohol  is  unfavorable.  I  think 
soldiers  are  much  better  off  without  it  than  with 
it.  Men  who  do  not  habitually  use  it  are  much 
less  susceptible  to  fatigue  and  exposure  than  those 
who  do." 

Not  only  is  the  work  value  and  endurance 
eflSciency  of  fighting  men  materially  reduced  by 
their  indulgence  in  alcohol,  but  it  has  been  shown 
that  their  physical  efficiency  suffers  also.  For 
proof  of  this,  we  need  go  no  further  than  our  own 
Navy,  which,  as  is  well  known,  "went  on  the 
water  wagon"  July  1,  1914. 

But  it  is  not  generally  known  that  the  most 
potent  reason  which  influenced  the  action  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  proclaiming  navy-wide 
prohibition  was  the  fact,  revealed  by  the  Medical 
Inspector  of  the  United  States  Navy,  that  there 
were  nearly  10  times  as  many  cases  of  alcoholism 
admitted  to  hospitals  in  the  American  Navy  as  in 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  129 

the  British  Navy,  and  50  times  as  many  as 
in  the  German  Navy  —  in  both  of  which  famous 
institutions  of  learning,  alcohol  is  practically 
taboo. 

Secretary  Daniels  concluded  that  if  alcohol  was 
sending  so  many  men  to  the  hospitals,  it  must 
undoubtedly  be  rendering  inefficient  a  much  greater 
number  who  did  not  get  as  far  as  the  hospital. 
So,  in  the  fair  name  of  efficiency,  alcohol  is  banned 
forever  from  the  American  Navy. 

In  these  piping  times  of  war  when  one  of  the 
chief  soldierly  activities  consists  in  digging  trenches, 
the  "slowing  up"  effects  of  alcohol  have  been 
interestingly  noted.  Dr.  Parks,  of  the  British 
Army,  tested  this  matter  out  in  an  eminently 
practical  way. 

Two  groups  of  men  were  set  to  digging,  and  the 
amount  of  work  done  by  each  group  was  most 
carefully  estimated.  One  of  these  bodies  was 
allowed  a  full  ration  (which  in  England  means  a 
pint)  of  beer.  The  other  group  received  no  alcohol 
of  any  kind. 

It  was  found  that  the  abstaining  group  rendered 
from  18%  to  20%  more  work  value  than  the 
beer-drinking  group.  But  the  most  interesting 
factor    of    the    experiment    developed    when    these 


130  ALCOHOL 


groups  were  transposed —  the  teetotalers  receiving 
beer,  the  drinkers  going  back  to  tea.  For  the 
figures  automatically  reversed  themselves,  and 
showed  the  same  proportion  of  approximately 
18%  to  20%  less  work  accomplished  by  the 
drinkers  as  compared  with  the  non-drinkers. 

If  we  multiply  20  %  of  a  laborer's  daily  wage  by 
the  number  of  laborers  in  the  United  States  who 
drink,  we  may  perhaps  get  a  fair  idea  of  the  amount 
of  money  actually  lost  to  railroads,  contractors,  and 
employers  of  labor  everywhere,  as  a  result  of  the 
drinking  habits  of  their  employees. 

And  this  also  is  curious,  and  highly  interesting 
to  a  hero  who  must  part  with  a  much-valued  leg, 
or  a  large  fragment  of  his  skull.  When  a  man  is 
narcotized  by  one  variety  of  dope,  it  is  diflScult  to 
subject  him  to  the  influence  of  any  other  —  even 
though  this  be  for  his  own  good.  This  was  defi- 
nitely established  during  the  Morocco  campaign, 
when  army  surgeons  found  it  almost  impossible  to 
chloroform  drinking  soldiers.  Their  narcotized  and 
alcohol-soaked  systems  were  practically  unaffected 
by  other  narcotic  poisons. 

Drink  is  not  very  popular  in  any  of  the  armies 
of  the  world,  and  it  is  rapidly  becoming  less  so. 

So  far  back  as  January   1,   1906,   the  Swedish 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  131 

Government  forbade  the  sale  of  beer  and  spirits 
in  all  army  canteens.  Subsequently,  during  maneu- 
vers, entire  districts  in  which  the  army  operated 
were  put  under  strict  prohibition.  And  the  Danish 
Government  no  longer  permits  spirits  to  be  sold  in 
its  army. 

On  November  2,  1911,  the  German  Navy  dis- 
charged a  broadside  into  John  Barleycorn's  ada- 
mantine hide  by  sending  this  trenchant  order  to 
the  Baltic  Naval  Station:  "Henceforth  the  grog 
receptacle  is  to  be  used  as  salt-holder  for  the 
crew." 

And  to  still  further  hit  Gambrinus  below  his 
Germanic  belt,  the  document  entitled  "Alcohol 
and  the  Power  of  Resistance,"  which  has  been 
put  into  the  hands  of  hundreds  of  thousands  in 
the  German  armies,  contains  this  significant  and 
thought-compelling  passage:  "Many  do  not  suspect 
what  a  destructive  poison  they  are  taking  into 
themselves,  and  what  devastation  this  poison  has 
caused,  and  still  causes,  among  the  German  people. 
They  do  not  understand  what  moderation  in  the 
use  of  alcohol  is,  and  that  the  limit  at  which  it 
begins  to  work  injury  to  mind  and  body  is  very 
soon  reached  —  much  sooner  than  the  majority  of 
German  people  believe." 


132    -  ALCOHOL 


Which  stimulates  this  further  inquiry.  Why 
should  not  the  experience  of  military  and  naval 
men  apply  with  equal  force  to  all  the  vast  activ- 
ities of  industrial  life?  And  if  they  so  apply, 
why  should  not  the  Government  demand  of  its 
employees,  and  corporations  ultimately  require  of 
their  workmen  an  abstemiousness  that  inevitably 
makes  for  a  vastly  increased  efficiency?  Indeed, 
why  should  not  mankind  in  general,  as  a  matter 
of  health  and  principle,  desist  from  putting  into 
its  stomach  that  which  insidiously  and  perni- 
ciously increases  deficiency  —  which  makes  second- 
and  third-rate  men  out  of  first-class  human 
material? 

It  remains  to  be  seen,  however,  whether  or  not 
the  voluntary  abstention  from  alcohol  by  the  King 
of  England  and  innumerable  high  dignitaries  will 
do  for  the  sobering  of  Britain  what  the  prohibitory 
Ukase  did  for  Russia,  and  whether  the  expected 
increase  in  the  efficiency  of  those  engaged  in 
turning  out  implements  of  wholesale  murder  will 
develop.  Also  whether  the  noble  self-sacrifice  of 
their  rulers  will  pacify  these  bully  Britons,  and 
make  them  more  contented  with  their  beerless 
lot. 

I  should  be  inclined  to  hazard  the  prognostica- 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  133 

tion  that  nothing  short  of  a  sweeping  prohibitory 
enactment  will  divorce  the  Englishman  from  his 
ale.  For,  "Britons,  never,  never  will  be  slaves." 
Except  when  they  want  to  be.  And  where  liquor 
is  concerned  it  seems  quite  patent  that  they  want 
to  be.  Until  the  masses  in  England  are  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that  drink  is  an  evil  no  suasive 
measures  will  likely  be  successful. 

This  agitation  will  probably  cause  the  enactment 
of  mildly  restrictive  measures,  early  closing  hours, 
laws  against  drunkenness,  etc.  Or  England  may 
take  over  the  breweries  and  distilleries,  and  make 
an  honest  dollar  for  herself  by  going  into  the 
poison-peddling  business. 

Of  course,  the  staggering  drink  bill  of  England 
is  a  powerful  inducement  for  some  sort  of  restric- 
tion. For  common  sense  teaches  that  one  cannot 
pay  war  taxes  as  they  should  be  paid  —  in  order 
to  have  a  first-class  war  —  and  buy  booze  at  the 
same  time.  At  least,  not  as  the  Britons  have 
been  buying  it. 

For  in  1912  they  spent  $807,766,650  for  various 
and  sundry  drinks,  but  in  1913  they  "blew  in" 
$833,405,000  for  similar  purposes.  And  1914  was 
even  worse,  although  no  one  yet  knows  officially 
just  how  much.     The  government,  however,  figures 


134  ALCOHOL 


that  it  received  $198,250,000  in  revenue,  as  its 
share  of  "the  swag." 

But  when  it  throws  away  many  times  this  sum, 
and  at  the  most  crucial  epoch  in  English  history, 
it  may  well  contemplate,  as  through  a  glass  darkly 
in  the  dim  distance,  a  national  prohibitory  law  — 
lasting  during  the  period  of  the  war,  at  any  rate. 

France  has  already  —  with  the  endorsement  of 
the  Academy  of  Medicine  —  abolished  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  absinthe,  and  has  materially 
curtailed,  by  precept,  plea,  and  petition,  the  con- 
sumption of  alcoholic  liquors,  cordials,  and  wines. 
In  fact,  it  is  not  outside  the  bounds  of  possibility 
to  believe  that  the  European  war  may  yet  drive 
those  engaged  in  it  into  complete  abstention. 
This,  as  a  matter  of  internal  defense,  against  an 
implacable  internecine  foe. 

It  would  seem,  if  war  is  destined  to  have  such  a 
salutary  effect  upon  drunkenness,  that  it  might 
not  be  a  bad  thing  to  have  a  little  one  right  here  at 
home,  where,  in  New  York  City  alone,  we  have  a 
drink  bill  of  $100,000,000  per  year,  and  are  the 
proud  possessors  of  1  saloon  for  every  30  familes. 

Indeed,  the  conclusion  can  hardly  be  avoided 
that,  with  a  per  capita  consumption  of  21.98 
gallons  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  United  States 


ALCOHOL    AND    WAR  135 

(Government  Report  of  1912)  something  worse 
than  a  war  is  happening  to  American  manhood. 
Representative  Hobson  states  the  problem  some- 
thing in  this  wise,  using  the  figures  of  the  British 
Government  and  the  English  life  insurance  com- 
panies as  a  basis  for  his  computations. 

If  a  young  man  at  the  age  of  20  is  a  total  ab- 
stainer and  remains  one,  his  life  prospect  is  44 
years,  and  he  will  live  to  an  average  age  of  64, 
but  if  he  is  a  moderate,  regular  drinker  his  prospect 
of  life  will  be  31  years,  and  he  will  live  to  an 
average  age  of  51  —  losing  13  years  out  of  his  life. 
If  he  drinks  heavily,  his  life  prospect  is  15  years 
and  he  will  die  at  the  average  age  of  35  —  losing 
29  years  out  of  his  life. 

Conservative  estimates  place  the  number  of 
confirmed  drunkards  in  the  United  States  at 
something  over  1,000,000,  the  heavy  drinkers  at 
something  over  4,000,000;  the  temperate,  regular 
drinkers  at  over  20,000,000. 

A  soldier  wounded  in  battle  and  losing  10 
years  of  his  life  as  a  consequence,  would  be 
classed  as  seriously  wounded.  The  confirmed 
drunkards  and  heavy  drinkers  together,  5,000,000 
in  number,  must  be  looked  upon  as  mortally 
wounded,   and    the    temperate  regular  drinkers   as 


136  ALCOHOL 


seriously  wounded,  making  a  total  of  over  25,000,- 
000  Americans  wounded  by  alcohol  today.  The 
estimates  for  the  white  race  make  over  125,000,000 
white  men  today  wounded  by  alcohol,  which,  it 
must  be  conceded,  is  a  right  tight  little  showing. 


Chapter  XIII 
EFFICIENCY  AND  DEFICIENCY 

THERE  are  now  more  than  a  million  responsible 
positions  in  the  United  States  which  are 
closed  to  the  man  w^ho  uses  alcoholic  liquors.  Not 
for  the  purpose  of  restricting  the  liberty  of  the. 
employee,  but  to  protect  against  waste  and  acci- 
dent. From  every  point  of  view  this  ultimately 
proves  to  be  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
employee. 

Long  since,  railroad  managers  discovered  that  a 
source  of  enormous  preventable  loss  could  be 
traced  to  the  trainman  whose  brain  powers  were 
slightly  affected  by  alcohol.  It  was  not  necessary 
that  he  should  stagger,  or  that  he  should  indulge 
while  on  duty,  to  make  him  a  source  of  acci- 
dents. 

Railroading  preceded  the  laboratory  experiments 
in  demonstrating  that  a  much  smaller  quantity 
of  alcohol  than  is  required  to  make  a  man  drunk 
weakens  his  memory  for  orders,  his  power  to  read 

137 


138  ALCOHOL 


signals  quickly,  and  his  ability  to  act  with  prompt- 
ness and  accuracy.  It  was  discovered  also  that 
the  after  effects  of  an  evening's  debauch  do  not 
disappear  with  recovered  ability  to  talk  and  walk 
straight;  nor  are  these  katzen jammer  trimmings 
entirely  dispelled  by  a  night's  sleep.  Hence,  for 
the  safety  of  the  traveling  public,  and  for  the 
protection  of  the  employees  themselves,  the  rail- 
roads generally  have  come  to  require  total  ab- 
stinence from  all  employees  holding  places  of 
responsibility.  Therefore,  the  familiar  slogan 
*' Safety  First"  is  being  replaced  by  the  more 
practical  one  "Sober  First."  And  with  "Sober 
First,"  safety  is  practically  assured.  As  Mr. 
Edison  well  says,  "There  is  as  much  place  in 
business  for  alcohol  as  for  sand  in  an  engine." 

In  fact,  kings  and  rulers,  business  men  and 
corporation  lieads,  social  reformers  and  the  Church, 
are  agreed  that  alcoholic  drink  works  definite  and 
positive  harm.  And  now  industry  is  figuring  on 
this  problem:  If  a  single  glass  of  beer  lowers  a 
man's  efl&ciency  7%,  what  is  the  total  loss  of 
efficiency  of  one  who  has  soaked  his  system  in  gin, 
whiskey,  brandy,  and  other  red-hot  liquors,  and 
what  does  this  alcoholic  saturation  cost  his  em- 
ployer in  dollars  and  cents  .^ 


EFFICIENCY    AND    DEFICIENCY         139 

The  answer  to  this  is  significant,  and  it  is 
becoming  progressively  more  so.  For  everywhere 
the  intelligent  minds  of  the  world  recognize  that 
alcohol  weakens  both  muscle  and  mental  power,  in 
addition  to  its  detrimental  influence  on  the  moral 
and  ethical  character.  Indeed,  Mr.  Edward  A. 
Perkins  believes  that:  "As  time  goes  on,  the  re- 
quirements for  exact  and  high-class  work  by  men 
in  the  trades  is  increasing,  and  they  cannot  afford 
to  allow  their  brains  to  be  clouded  by  the  effects 
of  liquor."  This  is  rapidly  becoming  the  con- 
viction of  employers  of  labor  generally. 

Our  government  has  been  stringently  criticized 
by  business  interests  for  its  position  on  the  liquor 
question.  For  the  imposition  of  a  United  States 
Tax  as  a  revenue  measure  has  undoubtedly  made 
the  United  States  Government  an  ipso  facto  partner 
in  the  liquor  traffic.  Many  attempts  have  been 
made  to  break  up  the  alliance  between  the  govern- 
ment and  the  liquor  and  brewery  interests.  If 
these  attempts  succeed  —  which  now,  as  many 
industrial  leaders  predict,  seems  likely  in  the  not 
distant  future  —  it  will  be  owing  to  the  chang- 
ing front  of  our  industries  toward  the  alcohol 
question.  It  is  quite  within  the  bounds  of 
probability  that  drastic  action  will  soon  be  taken 


140  ALCOHOL 


to   prevent    the   further   swallowing   up   of   profits 
by  alcoholism. 

This  movement  was  begun  by  the  railroads  as  a 
protective  measure.  Now  it  seems  certain  that 
every  great  industry  in  the  country  will,  within  a 
short  time,  establish  equally  stringent  rules  govern- 
ing the  habits  of  its  employees.  Even  now  drink- 
ing spells  dismissal  for  employees  of  scores  of 
companies,  employing  thousands  of  men. 

This  has  led  Midas'  Criterion,  the  standard 
liquor  trade  magazine,  to  complain  that  "One  of 
the  most  pregnant  signs  of  the  times  is  the  steady 
and  increasing  tendency  for  big  corporations  to 
encroach  on  the  personal  liberty  of  workmen." 
And  the  Brewers'  Journal,  of  December,  1914, 
echoes  plaintively:  "There  are  even  companies 
and  individual  employers  who  threaten  to  dis- 
charge employees  for  drinking  alcohol  at  any  time. 
They  do  not  care  if  that  is  social  and  economic 
slavery.  Their  main  object  is  to  protect  their 
pocketbooks." 

Yet  during  1914  hundreds  of  industries  have 
been  aligning  themselves  in  the  efficiency  campaign 
against  "booze."  An  order  was  issued  by  the 
United  States  Steel  Mills,  operating  throughout 
the  Mahoning  Valley,  that  in  the  future  promotions 


EFFICIENCY    AND    DEFICIENCY         141 

will  be  made  only  from  the  rank  and  file  of  those 
who  are  abstainers. 

The  great  steel  mills  of  Homestead,  Pennsylvania, 
employing  12,000  men,  also  declare  that  a  man,  by 
entering  a  liquor  saloon,  automatically  severs  his 
connection  with  the  company. 

Recognizing  the  loss  in  eflficiency  due  to  drinking, 
the  Philadelphia  Quartz  Company  was  prompted 
to  conduct  a  pledge  campaign  among  its  workmen. 
The  men  were  offered  a  10%  increase  if  they 
would  agree,  in  future,  to  use  no  liquor,  and  to 
hereafter  avoid  places  where  it  was  sold  or  dis- 
pensed. Ninety-nine  per  cent  made  the  required 
promise.  The  manager  of  the  plant  contends  it  is 
only  common  sense  to  believe  that  a  strictly  sober 
man  is  worth  more  to  his  employers. 

Among  musicians  this  same  loss  of  efficiency  has 
been  experienced.  The  members  of  Sousa's  Band 
and  many  of  the  leading  orchestras  in  America  are 
not  permitted  to  drink  spirits  —  not  even  wine  or 
beer.  The  reason  given  is  that  alcohol  impairs  the 
hearing  and  the  accuracy  of  the  sense  of  melody 
and  harmony,  as  well  as  lowers  the  delicate  muscu- 
lar control  required  of  the  lips  and  fingers. 

Recently  the  Illinois  Steel  Company,  in  order  to 
reduce  their  accident  and  indemnity  losses,  installed 


142  ALCOHOL 


in  conspicuous  places  throughout  its  works  electric 
signs  asking  this  pointed  question: 

"Did  booze  ever  do  you  any  good  —  help  you 
get  a  better  job  —  contribute  to  the  happiness  of 
your  family?'* 

Milk  venders  now  make  regular  trips  through 
the  factory,  supplying  the  men  with  a  beverage 
better  than  beer.  By  an  educational  campaign, 
and  by  taking  away  one  of  the  incentives  to  drink- 
ing, the  Company  hopes  to  reform  its  drinking 
workmen.  Those  who  persist  in  drinking  will  lose 
their  jobs. 

In  discussing  the  effects  of  abstinence  upon  in- 
dustry in  Russia,  the  editor  of  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post  observes  that:  "The  suppression  of  the 
government  alcohol  monopoly  entailed  a  diminu- 
tion of  470,000,000  rubles"  —  roughly  half  as  many 
dollars  —  "in  the  budget  of  1914;  but  the  benefits 
of  this  suppression  are  already  felt.  Though  it  was 
feared  the  calling  of  so  many  men  to  the  colors 
would  seriously  embarrass  industry,  it  has  been 
found  that,  thanks  to  the  suppression  of  the  traffic 
in  alcohol,  the  results  of  labor  are  from  30  %  to  50  % 
higher  than  before." 

In  fact,  the  sentiment  of  governments  and  of 
employers  of  labor  generally,  is  accurately  summed 


EFFICIENCY    AND    DEFICIENCY         143 

up  in  the  words  of  Andrew  Carnegie:  "There  is 
no  use  wasting  time  on  any  young  man  who 
drinks  liquor,  no  matter  how  exceptional  his 
talents." 

And  most  significant  of  all,  Mr.  C.  L.  Close, 
manager  of  the  famous  Bureau  of  Safety  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  —  a  gentleman  of 
wide  experience  in  the  social  and  economic  aspects 
of  labor  —  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  as  a  result 
of  the  combined  effort  of  American  industries,  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  liquors  and  beer  will 
shortly  be  at  an  end  in  this  country. 

Industry  demands  energy  of  men  today  —  also 
accuracy.  In  Germany  particularly,  the  great 
industrials  are  highly  active,  and  grimly  deter- 
mined in  their  endeavor  to  slit  John  Barleycorn's 
weasand. 

In  the  great  mines  and  iron  works  all  over 
Germany  and  Austria,  in  steel  mills,  foundries, 
gas  and  electric  works,  on  the  Imperial  Docks,  on 
surface,  subway,  and  steam  railroads;  in  ship  yards, 
factories,  and  great  contracting  enterprises;  thou- 
sands of  booths  have  been  established  for  the  sale 
of  tea,  coffee,  milk,  cocoa,  "soft  drinks,"  and 
"zitrolin"  —  a  manufactured  lemonade  of  whole- 
some quality.     Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the 


144  ALCOHOL 


movement  may  be  recognized  when  it  is  known 
that  the  sale  of  innocuous  drinks  in  these  booths 
runs  annually  into  the  millions  of  bottles. 

In  our  own  country  the  substitution  of  benign 
beverages  for  "booze"  has  met  with  much  favor. 
This  safety  device  was  adopted  by  Mr.  Ralph  H. 
West,  President  of  the  West  Steel  Casting  Com- 
pany, of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who  tells  me  that  he 
has  recently  installed  refrigerators  in  which  to  store 
milk  for  his  men.  Many  of  these  now  take  their 
lunch  out  of  doors  in  the  shade,  instead  of  pursuing 
their  original  custom  of  indulging  in  a  mad  race 
for  a  saloon  when  the  noon  whistle  blew.  The 
firm  supplies  ice  gratis.  A  pint  of  milk  costs  the 
men  4  cents. 

Some  drink  not  only  their  noon  bottle,  but  order 
another  for  the  mid-morning,  or  one  to  be  drunk 
in  the  afternoon,  during  the  heat  of  casting  time. 
Best  of  all,  the  men  are  finding  that  milk  supplies 
an  invigorating  and  lasting  strength,  and  they  are 
realizing  the  immense  benefit  of  this  change  from 
"booze"  to  food. 

Also,  the  big  South  Works  Plant  of  the  Illinois 
Steel  Company  recently  established  a  number  of 
milk  stations  for  the  purpose  of  weaning  its  em- 
ployees from  beer.     In  less  than   6  months  these 


EFFICIENCY    AND    DEFICIENCY         145 

stations  were  selling  1400  quarts  of  milk  a  day. 
Fourteen  saloons  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
were  forced  to  go  out  of  business  for  lack  of  trade. 

In  this  connection,  Mr.  E.  H.  Foote,  Treasurer 
of  the  Grand  Rapids  Chair  Company,  writes  me: 
"It  is  well  understood  that  a  booze-fighter  cannot 
remain  with  us.  .  .  .  We  have  a  milkman  who 
delivers  milk  in  bottles  every  morning.  A  boy 
takes  orders  from  the  workmen  for  the  amount 
they  wish,  settles  with  the  milkman,  and  delivers 
the  milk  to  the  employees." 

And  Mr.  F.  F.  Smith,  President  of  the  Os- 
born  Manufacturing  Company,  informs  me  that: 
"Several  years  ago  we  installed  a  coffee  urn  in  our 
plant,  from  which  we  supplied  to  all  employees  a 
large  cup  of  good  coffee,  with  cream  and  sugar, 
at  $.22  per  month,  this  being  the  amount  which 
we  find  covers  the  exact  cost  of  material,  labor, 
gas,  etc.  Our  superintendent  reports  that  under 
this  arrangement  he  knows  of  but  one  man  in  our 
factory  who  now  visits  a  saloon  at  noon." 

Mr.  George  H.  Barbour,  Vice-President  of  the 
Michigan  Stove  Company,  in  a  very  interesting 
communication,  states:  "I  was  told  by  a  gentle- 
man who  visited  Europe  just  before  the  war,  in 
going  through  some  of  the  largest  manufacturing 


146  ALCOHOL 


institutions  in  England  he  noticed  the  absence  of 
beer  drinking.  The  proprietors  volunteered  the 
information  that  the  men  were  not  drinking  so 
much  as  they  used  to.  They  found  that  drinking 
beer  made  the  men  dull  and  slow-witted,  so  they 
sent  to  Japan  and  bought  a  quantity  of  the  very 
best  tea,  which  at  certain  hours  in  the  morning 
they  steep  and  deliver  to  each  man.  Many  of 
these  men  have  since  entirely  abandoned  the  use 
of  beer.  The  managers  are  jubilant  over  the 
change  in  the  situation." 

Also,  there  are  many  firms  who  are  carrying  on 
an  educational  campaign  to  help  their  men  to 
become  sober  from  intelligent  choice.  The  iron 
and  steel  industries  are  putting  leaflets  in  the  pay 
envelopes  of  their  employees,  each  of  which  con- 
tains some  strong  argument  against  the  use  of 
alcohol.  The  railroads  also  hand  these  out  from 
their  pay  cars,  and  the  large  posters  are  put  in 
cabooses  each  month.  This  for  the  protection  of 
men  and  the  public,  and  the  prevention  of  eco- 
nomic loss. 

One  significant  fact,  however,  which  has  been 
generally  overlooked,  is  the  loss  incurred  by 
industry  in  training  new  men  to  fill  the  places  of 
those     incapacitated     through     drink.     This     was 


EFFICIENCY    AND     DEFICIENCY         147 

brought  out  very  interestingly  by  Mr.  Melville  W. 
Mix,  President  of  the  Dodge  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, and  head  of  the  Manufacturers'  Bureau  of 
Industry,  in  a  recent  address  before  the  National 
Committee  for  Industrial  Safety.     Mr.  Mix  said: 

"It  has  been  figured  that  the  average  cost  of 
apprenticeship,  including  the  cost  of  bringing  a 
man  to  the  working  efficiency  necessary  to  profit, 
is  somewhere  around  $1000.  If  this  man  is  dis- 
abled from  any  cause,  the  employer  must  immedi- 
ately recognize  the  charge  for  the  cost  of  training 
another  workman,  in  addition  to  whatever  damage 
he  may  be  called  upon  to  pay." 

Another  loss  sustained  to  industry  by  alcohol 
appears  in  the  impairment  of  skill  which  may 
remove  the  worker  from  the  ranks  of  the  skilled 
into  the  ranks  of  the  great  horde  who  have  merely 
muscle  power  to  sell.  For  into  the  training  of  the 
skilled  artisan  goes  not  only  his  own  time  and 
effort,  but  the  labor  and  expense  of  the  employer 
who  furnishes  plant,  machinery,  tools,  and  foremen, 
and  who  bears  the  necessary  losses  while  the 
artisan  is  being  trained  in  handling  the  employers' 
material  and  machinery. 

Industry  sustains  a  further  loss  as  a  result  of 
imprisonments  for  drunkenness.     Four  out  of  every 


148  ALCOHOL 


5  men  imprisoned  for  drunkenness  in  Massachusetts 
for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1913,  were 
between  17  and  50  years  of  age,  and  therefore  at 
that  very  period  of  Hfe  when  their  industrial  output 
should  be  greatest.  These  men  lost  an  aggregate 
of  300,000  working  days,  and  probably  about  the 
same  number  of  days  in  looking  for  work  after 
their  release  from  jail. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Gaskill,  Superintendent  of  Parsons 
Pulp  and  Lumber  Company,  insists  that  "careful 
observation  has  shown  that  with  a  pay-roll  of  300 
men  the  actual  number  of  lost  days  in  the  month 
without  a  saloon  in  close  proximity  will  amount  to 
2  days  on  an  average  of  24  days'  work  to  a  man. 
With  a  saloon  near  by  it  is  conservative  to  say 
that  the  average  would  drop  to  20  days'  work  in  a 
month,  or  a  loss  in  average  of  4  days  per  man  or 
1200  actual  days'  loss  to  labor." 

The  Reo  Motor  Car  Company  kept  a  record  of 
the  loss  of  time  after  5  successive  pay-days 
(Wednesdays).  In  the  10  weeks  covered  by  the 
record,  no  fewer  than  190  employees  lost  from  half 
a  day  to  3  days  following  their  being  "paid  off." 
Fifty-six  men  "celebrated"  for  3  days  each,  which 
little  "jamboree"  cost  them  $6.75  apiece,  or  a 
loss    equal    to    about    25%    on    their   two    weeks' 


EFFICIENCY    AND    DEFICIENCY         149 

wages.  The  employer's  loss  is  even  heavier,  for 
when  one  or  more  men  fail  to  appear,  machines 
and  other  men  must  wait  until  their  places  can  be 
filled." 

Spoiled  work  is  another  not  inconsiderable  part 
of  the  loss  which  drink  lays  upon  industry.  In  one 
of  the  Coatesville  Steel  Mills,  during  the  period 
when  the  saloons  were  open,  it  was  not  at  all 
unusual  for  from  20  to  40  tons  of  steel  to  be  spoiled 
in  the  rolling  following  pay-days,  thus  reducing 
the  earnings  of  every  "piece  worker"  in  the  mill, 
because  of  the  semi-intoxicated  condition  of  some 
of  their  fellows.  But  with  the  closing  of  the 
saloons,  this  is  now  ancient  history. 

The  employer  must  therefore  set  down  in  the 
debit  column  against  alcohol  the  work  spoiled  by 
the  unsteady  or  careless  hand,  time  lost  through 
preventable  accident  and  sickness  and  alcohol- 
delayed  recovery,  the  added  expense  for  accident 
compensation,  the  total  of  which  debit  cannot  at 
present  be  even  estimated  in  money  loss. 

Also  alcohol,  by  drugging  the  brain,  clouding 
the  vision,  and  lowering  the  ideals,  may  complicate 
the  adjustment  of  those  delicate  mutual  prob- 
lems of  the  interests  arising  between  employer  and 
employee. 


150  ALCOHOL 


And  so  the  great  business  interests  of  America 
have  noted  the  experiments  of  the  savants  and 
scientists,  and  have  interpreted  them  in  terms 
of  work  values.  They  recognize  that  what  has 
occurred  in  the  famous  universities  and  psychologi- 
cal laboratories  of  Europe  points  losses  on  a  small 
scale  that  industry  is  continually  suffering  on  a 
large  scale. 

They  have  interpreted  these  epoch-marking 
experiments  of  Schnyder,  Kraepelin,  and  other 
European  and  American  scientists  to  mean  that 
industry  is  paying  millions  of  dollars  annually  in 
preventable  losses  by  accident,  spoiled  work,  and 
inefficiency.  Translating  the  experiments  of  Berg- 
man, Ridge,  Mayer,  and  Kinz  into  work  output, 
employers  are  beginning  to  comprehend  that  if 
an  office  worker  takes  even  a  moderate  dose  of 
one  glass  of  beer  daily,  he  decreases  his  efficiency 
by  an  average  of  7%. 

In  other  words,  it  requires  15  men,  indulging  in 
one  glass  of  beer  daily,  to  do  the  work  which  prop- 
erly should  be  done  by  14  abstainers.  They  are 
realizing  that  a  drinking  man  cannot  stand  extremes 
of  temperature  as  well,  that  he  cannot  hear  or  see 
or  smell  as  well,  that  he  cannot  lift  as  much  or 
lift  it  as  often,  that  he  cannot  walk  as  far,  dig  as 


EFFICIENCY    AND     DEFICIENCY        151 

much,  or  carry  as  enduringly   as  though  he  were 
abstinent. 

And  with  what  Herbert  Spencer  would  call 
"altruistic  egoism,"  business  is  determined  that 
for  the  mutual  interests  of  workman  and  employer 
drinking  shall  cease. 


Chapter  XIV 
WHAT   INDUSTRY    THINKS    OF   ALCOHOL 

SOME  months  ago  I  wrote  to  heads  of  insurance 
companies,  industrial  corporations,  railroads, 
and  colleges;  also  to  safety  experts,  statisticians, 
and  those  who  have  made  a  study  of  efficiency 
and  economics.  Of  500  letters  sent  I  received 
403  replies.  I  quote  from  a  few  of  these,  which 
are  representative  of  the  mass  opinion.  Practi- 
cally the  only  voice  which  did  not  condemn 
alcohol  in  business  came  from  a  manufacturer  of 
beer  pumps. 

Mr.  Norman  F.  Hesseltine,  Manager  Contrac- 
tors' Mutual  Liability  Insurance  Company,  writes: 
"Our  experience  has  proved  that  accidents  are 
caused  by  drink.  An  accident  which  would  not 
incapacitate  normal  healthy  men,  disables  those 
whose  systems  have  previously  been  injured  by 
drink.  Excessive  drinking  seems  to  run  to  certain 
occupations;  especially  among  teamsters  and  steve- 
dores. .  .  . 

153 


154  ALCOHOL 


"A  significant  and  interesting  case  has  recently 
been  decided  by  an  arbitration  committee  of  the 
Industrial  Accident  Board  of  Massachusetts:  Sam- 
uel Archibald,  deceased,  employee;  Edward  A. 
Masefield,  employer;  Globe  Indemnity  Company, 
insurer;  (May  20,  1915).  The  employee  was  an 
old  alcoholic,  who  recently  had  been  drinking.  It 
was  found  that  severe  injuries  caused  considerable 
shock,  and  led  to  the  development  of  delirium 
tremens,  which  his  system  favored,  resulting  in 
death;  that  the  injuries  were  the  contributing 
cause  of  death,  and  that  the  widow,  being  wholly 
dependent,  is  entitled  to  $4000  in  400  weekly 
payments  of  $10  each.  This  amounts  in  substance 
that  an  old  alcoholic  can  throw  onto  the  employer 
and  the  industrial  community  the  burden  of  his 
own  debauchery." 

Mr.  Francis  Norie-Miller,  of  the  General  Accident 
Fire  and  Life  Assurance  Corporation,  Ltd.,  writes: 
"I  have  come  unhesitatingly  to  the  opinion  that 
the  effect  of  alcohol  is  to  degrade  in  every  particu- 
lar, mentally,  morally  and  physically.  Those  of 
my  employees  who  have  indulged  freely  have 
become  absolutely  useless.  Poverty  and  misery 
have  resulted.  Their  children  I  find  weak,  physi- 
cally and  mentally,  and  I  feel  that  not  only  for  the 


INDUSTRY  AND  ALCOHOL       155 

sake  of  the  present  generation,  but  for  the  sake  of 
generations  to  come,  every  community  should  have 
prohibition  to  the  extent  that  it  would  be  as 
difficult  to  obtain  strong  drink  as  to  obtain  strong 
poisons." 

The  Aetna  Life  Insurance  Company  states: 
"The  regular  use  of  intoxicants  in  any  considerable 
quantity  is  bound  in  time  to  make  a  workman 
undesirable  as  regards  both  his  liability  to  cause 
accident  and  his  efficiency." 

The  Fidelity  and  Casualty  Company  adds:  "No 
man  under  the  influence  of  alcohol,  even  slightly, 
should  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  works,  much 
less  to  work.  Nor  should  a  man  whose  nerves 
have  been  rendered  unsteady  by  the  habitual  use 
of  alcohol,  or  by  a  recent  debauch,  be  permitted 
to  operate  dangerous  machinery  or  to  carry  on 
dangerous  work.  He  endangers  not  only  his  own 
life,  but  the  lives  of  others." 

Mr.  Thomas  D.  West,  Chairman  of  the  West 
Steel  Casting  Company  and  Chairman  of  the 
American  Foundrymen's  Association,  says:  "I  am 
seeking  assistance  that  would  help  drive  back 
saloons  from  manufacturing  and  industrial  establish- 
ments. For  the  past  5  or  6  years  I  have  been 
going  through  an  experience  that  has  been  costly 


156  ALCOHOL 


to  our  firm,  and  injurious  in  creating  an  appetite 
for  drink  with  workmen,  but  have  finally  ended  it 
by  buying  the  saloon  which  caused  our  troubles. 
This  saloon  was  close  to  our  oJ9Bce  and  gate  en- 
trance. We  have  paid  4  times  the  value  of  the 
property  in  order  to  become  proprietors  and  close 
it  up. 

"I  know  of  no  greater  injury  and  injustice  that 
can  be  brought  to  a  manufacturer  than  by  having 
saloons  close  enough  to  be  a  standing  temptation 
for  workmen  to  steal  out  and  obtain  intoxicants. 
I  am  urging  the  American  Foundrymen's  Associa- 
tion to  assist  in  persuading  our  State  Legislatures 
to  pass  laws  which  will  absolutely  prohibit  the 
operation  of  saloons  within  500  to  1000  feet  of  any 
foundry,  mill,  or  industrial  establishment. 

"I  believe  that  if  a  vote  of  all  workmen  was 
taken,  70%  of  them  would  favor  keeping  saloons 
well  back  from  workshops,  and  would  prefer  the 
drinking  of  non-intoxicants  during  working  hours 
and  at  lunch  time  rather  than  beverages  that  befog 
their  brains.  The  readiness  to  which  employees 
have  taken  to  drinking  milk  sustains  me  in  this 
belief." 

Mr.  D.  E.  Dempsey,  formerly  with  the  New 
York  Central  Iron  Works,  insists  that:    "Alcohol 


INDUSTRY  AND  ALCOHOL       157 

is  the  greatest  and  most  common  evil  that  affects 
employees  —  making  their  services  inefficient  and 
expensive  to  the  employers  in  every  line.  ...  A 
large  percentage  of  those  that  report  and  remain 
at  work  Monday  (it  is  a  common  custom  to  report 
for  work  and  then  leave  again)  utilize  nearly  one- 
half  their  time  between  the  drinking  water  fountain 
and  the  toilet,  and  after  Labor  Day  or  a  holiday 
celebration  this  condition  is  extended  for  several 
days. 

"Accidents  on  Monday  and.  after  holidays  were 
mostly  through  carelessness  caused  by  *big  heads.'" 

Mr.  F.  S.  Chase,  Treasurer  of  the  Chase  Rolling 
Mill  Company,  Waterbury,  Connecticut:  "We  pay 
off  Wednesday  afternoon  and  for  years  have  noted 
that  Thursday  morning  shows  more  absentees, 
more  tardy  arrivals,  and  more  inefficient  work  than 
on  any  other  day.  The  work  of  the  habitual  drinker 
is  not  done  so  well.  He  is  more  likely  to  suffer  ac- 
cident himself,  or  to  cause  accident  to  others." 

Former  United  States  Senator  William  A.  Clark 
has  written  a  significant  letter  from  which  I  quote: 
"The  disqualifications  of  persons  addicted  to  alco- 
hol were  so  striking  that  I  peremptorily  declined 
to  engage  any  one  upon  whom  I  could  discern  the 
effects  of  indulgence  in  alcohol.  .  .  . 


158  ALCOHOL 


"I  look  upon  alcoholism  as  a  disease,  which  in 
its  incipiency  may  not  be  very  serious,  and  might 
be  thwarted  by  the  exercise  of  sufficient  will  — 
before  volition  is  entirely  destroyed  and  the  subject 
a  hopeless  wreck/' 

Mr.  E.  H.  Weitzel,  Manager  of  the  Colorado 
Fuel  and  Iron  Company,  expresses  himself  in  these 
positive  terms:  .  .  .  "The  officers  of  our  Company 
have  always  recognized  the  injury  to  employees 
and  to  the  business  incident  to  the  use  of  alcohol. 
.  .  .  When  all  saloons  in  the  coal  mining  district 
were  closed  the  efficiency  of  the  workmen  greatly 
increased.  The  coal  production  for  the  first  18 
days  of  April  averaged  5.85  tons  per  day  for  each 
miner's  work.  This  before  the  Government  closed 
the  saloons.  During  the  first  18  days  of  June 
(with  all  saloons  closed)  each  man  produced  6.52 
tons,  which  meant  an  average  increase  in  wages  of 
over  11%  per  man. 

"I  have  just  made  careful  analysis  of  our 
accidents  during  January,  February  and  March, 
1914,  when  the  saloons  were  open;  and  May,  June 
and  July,  of  the  same  year,  when  they  were  closed. 
For  the  first  3  months  mentioned,  the  hospital 
cases  due  to  accidents  amounted  to  2.79  per  IGOO 
men   employed.    For   the  second   3   months   they 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  159 

amounted  to  2.01  per  1000  employed.  In  the  case 
of  the  minor  accidents  which  were  treated  at  the 
camps,  and  not  sent  to  the  hospital,  in  the  3 
months  under  the  saloons  our  accidents  of  this 
class  amounted  to  3.67  per  1000  employed,  while 
under  prohibition  they  amounted  to  1.07  per  1000 
employed.  Our  fatal  injuries  for  the  3  months 
under  the  saloon  amounted  to  1.01  per  1000,  while 
under  prohibition  months  they  amounted  to  .8  per 
1000. 

"This  has  confirmed  the  view  long  held  by  us, 
that  if  saloons  and  drinking  could  be  eliminated  in 
the  coal  district,  not  only  the  miners,  but  the 
companies,  would  be  greatly  benefited." 

Mr.  James  Douglas,  President  of  the  Phelps, 
Dodge  &  Company,  Inc.,  sent  me  an  exhaustive 
report  of  conditions  in  their  mines,  from  which  I 
abstract  the  following:  "We  have  looked  up  the 
matter  of  accidents  of  the  first  4  months  of  1913, 
1914  and  1915.  In  addition  to  this  we  made  a 
comparison  for  the  months  of  April,  1914,  and 
April,  1915,  to  find  out  the  difference  in  time  lost 
per  1000  shifts  worked. 

"In  April,  1915,  there  were  33,135f  shifts  worked 
at  the  mine.  There  were  631  shifts  laid  off,  which 
for   every  1000   shifts   worked   would  give   19,043 


160  ALCOHOL 


laid  off.  In  April,  1914,  there  were  42,663|  shifts 
worked  at  the  mine,  and  2619  laid  off,  which  gives 
61,387  shifts  laid  off  for  each  1000  worked.  This 
means  that  there  was  about  3|  times  as  much 
laying  off  in  1914,  under  an  alcohol  regime,  as  in 
1915,  under  prohibition." 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Bishop  White,  Vice- 
President  of  the  American  Chain  Company,  Inc., 
for  this  thoughtful  letter:  "I  am  particularly 
well  acquainted  with  the  chain  business,  but  find 
the  worst  conditions  of  all  in  the  Cragley  Heath 
district  near  Birmingham,  England,  where  excessive 
drinking  makes  it  absolutely  impossible  to  depend 
on  chain  makers.  The  problem  in  that  district  and 
in  that  particular  trade  is  recognized  as  the  most 
serious  one  which  employers  have  to  face.  It  is 
chiefly  responsible  for  the  loss  to  Great  Britain  of 
the  chain  business  which  they,  at  one  time,  con- 
trolled. This  business  has  gone  largely  to  the 
Continent. 

"We  have  attempted  to  discourage  drinking  in 
various  ways.  For  instance,  we  have  found  the 
greatest  trouble  in  foundry  hands.  A  molder's 
work  is  hard  and  dirty,  and  he  finishes  the  day  by 
pouring  his  molds.  The  handling  of  the  molten 
metal  results  in  extreme  heat,  and  the  work  has 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  161 

to  be  done  on  the  run  to  prevent  the  metal  from 
cooling.  As  a  result,  we  have  found  that  molders, 
almost  to  a  man,  go  directly  from  work  to  a 
saloon,  and  are  very  large  consumers  of  beer. 
This  condition  is  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  the 
work  does  not  attract  a  very  high  type  of  labor, 
but  on  the  other  hand  is  very  well  paid. 

"We  have  found  one  effective  deterrent.  We 
furnish  in  foundries  adequate  shower  baths  with 
plentiful  supplies  of  hot  and  cold  water,  soap  and 
towels,  and  find  that  very  soon  the  employees  get 
into  the  habit  of  coming  to  work  in  street  clothes, 
instead  of  in  their  working  clothes,  and  the  fact 
that  they  take  a  bath  and  change  to  their  street 
clothes  before  leaving  the  foundry  seems  to  give 
them  the  let-down  which  they  doubtless  actually 
require  after  pouring.  As  a  result,  they  leave  the 
shop  some  20  minutes  or  half -hour  later  —  have 
not  the  time  to  spend  drinking  before  their  dinner 
hours  at  home,  and  do  not  feel  the  need  of  drink. 
This  policy,  with  no  reference  of  any  sort  to 
drinking,  is  a  very  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
problem  so  far  as  we  are  concerned." 

Dr.  C.  A.  Lauffer,  Medical  Director  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, takes  the  broad  view  in  these  matters  which 


162  ALCOHOL 


one  would  look  for  in  a  medical  man.  Dr.  Lauffer 
says:  "We  have  about  15,000  injuries  to  handle 
every  year.  Alcohol  is  a  minor  contributing  fac- 
tor, as  men  under  the  influence  of  liquor  are  dis- 
charged and  ejected  from  the  plant.  Watchmen 
allow  no  one  to  enter  who  is  under  the  influence  of 
liquor,  and  men  who  value  their  jobs  will  keep 
away  until  they  sober  up. 

"Notwithstanding  this,  there  have  been  7  serious 
accidents,  the  result  of  alcohol,  which  would  not 
have  happened  had  the  men  been  sober. 

"To  what  extent  fatigue,  with  the  consequent 
blunting  of  perceptions,  has  been  responsible  for 
hundreds  more,  no  man  can  tell.  A  sick  wife,  a 
bad  cook  —  many  things  besides  alcohol  will  dull 
the  faculties,  and  diminish  that  reserve  of  self 
defense  that  subconsciously  protects  a  man  In 
dangerous  situations  against  accident." 

Dr.  Lauffer  also  furnished  a  report  from  four- 
teen Industrial  surgeons,  who  met  to  discuss  the 
standardization  of  first-aid  treatment.  These 
whose  professional  lives  are  dedicated  to  the  men, 
furtherance  of  the  principles  of  "Safety  First," 
represent  corporations  employing  nearly  a  million 
men.  They  conclude  that  "the  fatigue  of  the- 
day-after-the-night-before  is  back  of  the  justifiable 


INDUSTRY  AND  ALCOHOL       163 

hostility  of  industry  to  the  indiscriminate  sale  of 
alcohol." 

Mr.  J.  B.  Mansfield,  Vice-President  of  the  J.  E. 
Bolles  Iron  and  Wire  Works,  says:  "We  have 
overcome  the  'Monday  morning  nightmare'  by 
paying  our  men  on  Tuesday  instead  of  Satur- 
dav.  .  .  . 

"Forty  per  cent  of  our  accidents  are  among  men 
who  take  intoxicating  liquor.  Ninety  per  cent  of 
serious  accidents  occur  among  men  who  drink. 
Not  a  single  serious  accident  has  happened  to  an 
employee  who  was  a  total  abstainer  since  our 
Compensation  Law  went  into  effect.  We  now 
discharge  and  refuse  recommendation  to  an  em- 
ployee who  comes  to  work  Monday  morning 
smelling  of  whiskey." 

Mr.  C.  B.  Calder,  Vice-President  of  the  Toledo 
Shipbuilding  Company,  communicates:  "When  the 
Pittsburgh  Steamship  Company's  ships  were  built 
by  J.  D.  Rockefeller  and  managed  by  L.  M. 
Bowers,  he  enforced  restrictions  against  all  use  of 
alcohol.  When  I  took  charge  of  the  Dry  Dock 
Engineer  Works  I  found  that  the  men  were  in  the 
habit  of  sending  apprentice  boys  out  during 
working  hours  for  a  pail  of  beer.  This  was  peremp- 
torily  stopped,   and   now  it   is  but  rarely   indeed 


164  ALCOHOL 


that  a  workman  has  his  pay  garnisheed,  an  em- 
barrassment which  was  formerly  very  common." 

Mr.  Z.  Clark  Thwing,  Vice-President  of  the 
Grand  Rapids  Veneer  Works,  calls  it  "That  indus- 
trial vampire,  alcohol."  He  says:  "We  simply 
will  not  employ  a  man  in  any  capacity  that  is  even 
moderately  intemperate,  because  under  our  State 
Workmen's  Compensation  Act,  the  financial  risk  is 
too  great.  .  .  .  The  extension  of  the  Compensation 
Laws  throughout  the  country  will,  from  a  purely 
business  standpoint,  do  more  for  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance than  is  now  generally  supposed." 

Mr.  W.  Boardman  Reed,  Consulting  Engineer, 
declares:  "I  cannot  see  why  there  should  be  any 
difference  in  opinion  as  to  the  effect  of  alcohol 
upon  the  human  system,  and  there  certainly  is  not 
among  employers  of  labor. 

"While  it  is  true  that  the  human  system  can 
doubtless  absorb  a  certain  amount  of  alcohol,  as  it 
can  almost  any  other  poison  without  an  apparent 
effect  as  to  efficiency,  it  is  simply  a  question  as  to 
the  amount  that  is  used  and  the  ability  of  each 
particular  person  to  absorb  as  to  whether  his 
efficiency  is  affected  or  not." 

Mr.  F.  C.  Kelley,  Superintendent  of  the  Knox- 
ville  Railway  and  Light  Company,  writes:    "When 


INDUSTRY  AND  ALCOHOL       165 

first  I  was  employed  by  this  Company  a  man  was 
never  questioned  concerning  his  habits,  so  long  as 
he  did  not  get  drunk  on  the  job.  Even  when  he 
did,  it  was  very  often  passed  up  without  mention, 
especially  if  he  did  not  do  anything  reprehensible. 

"I  found  that  these  men  spent  at  least  30%  of 
their  earnings  for  drink,  which  would  cause  them 
to  lose  at  least  10%  of  their  time.  They  did  not 
make  eflScient  workmen,  they  did  not  advance  in 
their  work,  nor  were  they  nearly  so  reliable  as 
abstinent  men.  ...  A  man  in  the  service  now 
has  to  answer  for  drunkenness,  whether  on  or  off 
duty,  and  up  to  the  present  date,  I  cannot  recall  a 
single  accident  caused  by  intoxication,  since  this 
rule  was  put  into  effect." 

Mr.  C.  Edwin  Michael,  President  of  the  Virginia 
Bridge  and  Iron  Company,  advises  me  that,  in 
his  opinion,  ''The  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  a 
pure  economic  waste."  Also  he  observes  that: 
"There  are  manv  cases  of  death  from  'sunstroke' 
occurring  among  our  employees  in  heated  weather, 
which  may  undoubtedly  be  attributed  to  the 
excessive  use  of  alcoholic  drink.  I  have  also 
observed  the  usual  increase  of  Monday  morning 
accidents  due  in  great  measure  to  the  nervous 
condition  following  alcoholic  debauch." 


166  ALCOHOL 


Mr.  E.  C.  Spear,  Treasurer  of  the  Cheney 
Bigelow  Wire  Works,  argues  that:  "There  is  not 
the  sHghtest  question  as  to  the  effect  of  alcohol  on 
working  men,  or  any  one  ^  else,  for  that  matter. 
It  cannot  be  anything  but  detrimental  to  the  man, 
or  to  the  people  for  whom  he  is  working." 

Mr.  Geo.  T.  Fonda,  Safety  Engineer  of  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  holds:  "Regulation  of 
the  use  of  alcohol  in  the  industries  in  general,  will 
soon  become  a  matter  of  serious  consideration  on 
the  part  of  manufacturers  in  this  country." 

Mr.  Henry  R.  Towne,  Chairman  of  the  Yale  & 
Towne  Manufacturing  Company,  informs  me  that 
when  alcohol  was  first  interdicted  in  his  plant  his 
men  rebelled  and  refused  to  work.  After  accepting 
conditions,  however,  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  work- 
men admit  that  enforced  abstinence  has  been 
beneficial  to  them,  and  "they  were  glad  it  had 
been  insisted  upon." 

Mr.  Howell  Cheney,  of  Cheney  Brothers  Silk 
Manufacturing  Company,  says:  "Unquestionably 
employees  themselves  realize  the  evils  of  intemper- 
ance, for  our  men  will  not  admit  to  their  Benefit 
Association  those  who  are  known  to  be  habitual 
drinkers,  nor  will  they  pay  benefits  for  sickness 
caused  or  increased  by  drinking." 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  167 

Mr.  H.  E.  Bullock,  President  of  the  Illinois 
Malleable  Iron  Company,  says:  "On  the  days 
succeeding  our  pay  days  our  molders  do  not  put 
up  as  large  heats,  and  the  percentage  of  scrap 
increases.  With  men  in  higher  positions  we  are 
insisting  on  sobriety.  Latterly  have  been  having 
many  of  them  take  the  Normyl  temperance  cure. 
I  would  be  glad  if  your  book  shows  some  way  of 
securing  temperance  among  teamsters.  Almost 
invariably  these  seem  to  be  drinkers." 

Mr.  S.  P.  Bush,  President  of  the  Buckeye  Steel 
Castings  Company,  concludes  that:  "Fully  one-half 
and  probably  more  of  the  cases  that  have  come 
under  my  observation  where  men  have  become  in- 
efficient or  in  a  condition  of  distress  has  been  the 
result  of  drink.  The  use  of  stimulants  lowers  the 
vitality  and  enormously  reduces  efficiency." 

Mr.  Fred  J.  Miller,  Manager  of  Factories  of  the 
Remington  Typewriter  Company,  comments  that: 
"Business  men,  members  of  clubs,  etc.,  are  now 
drinking  much  more  than  are  working  men,  and  more 
of  these  are  lessening  their  efficiency  by  drinking." 

Mr.  L.  H.  Ranney,  Secretary  of  the  International 
Harvester  Company,  states:  "We  permit  no  em- 
ployee to  remain  in  the  service  whose  work  is 
in  any  way  affected  by  intoxicants."    He  empha- 


168  ALCOHOL 


sizes   this   from   their   Book   of   Rules:     "Rule    7. 

« 

If  you  are  tired  it  is  rest  that  you  need.  Avoid 
whiskey  and  other  intoxicating  drinks;  they  weaken 
both  mind  and  body.  If  you  need  a  stimulant  try 
hot  coffee" 

Mr.  F.  K.  Copeland,  President  Sullivan  Machin- 
ery Company,  writes:  "Whenever  we  know  of  a 
man  who  is  intemperate,  we  refuse  to  employ  him. 
This  has  become  absolutely  necessary  under  the 
Compensation  Laws.  I  believe  these  laws  are  just 
and  reasonable,  and  that  Compensation  is  a  proper 
charge  against  our  product;  but  in  return  for  this 
outlay  we  expect  our  men  to  be  in  full  possession 
of  their  faculties,  both  for  their  own  safety  and 
the  safety  of  their  fellow  workmen." 

Mr.  Walter  S.  Bickley,  President  of  the  Penn 
Steel  Castings  and  Machine  Company,  concludes 
that:  "It  is  the  lowest  paid  workman  who  finds 
time  and  money  enough  to  remain  away  after  pay 
day." 

Mr.  J.  T.  Jewett,  Jr.,  President  of  the  Standard 
Pulley  Company,  says:  "We  always  have  con- 
siderable trouble  Mondays  because  of  men  who  do 
not  show  up  for  work  at  all,  or  if  they  do  are  unfit 
for  work  on  account  of  having  'a  Monday  morning 
hold-over.'" 


INDUSTRY  AND  ALCOHOL       169 

Mr.  M.  L.  Pulcher,  Vice-President  Federal  Motor 
Truck  Company,  writes:  "I  attended  a  luncheon 
the  other  noon  where  there  were  twelve  automobile 
men  at  one  table,  and  not  a  single  drink  was 
served.  It  was  remarked  by  one  of  the  men 
present  that  the  change  in  regard  to  liquor  had 
been  very  great  —  some  4  or  5  years  ago  there 
would  have  been  a  drink  before  every  plate.  .  .  . 
Indeed,  I  am  greatly  in  favor  of  a  restrictive  move- 
ment. Not  prohibition,  for  I  have  lived  in  counties 
that  were  under  local  option,  and  there  was  more 
booze  consumed  then  than  when  the  saloons  were 
open.  The  type  of  prohibition  I  favor  is  National 
Prohibition  —  no  booze  of  any  kind  made,  sold  or 
delivered." 

Mr.  H.  E.  Miles,  President,  Trade  Board  of 
Industrial  Education  of  Wisconsin,  has  written  a 
most  interesting  letter,  from  which  I  extract  the 
following:  "A  man  seeking  employment  showed 
me  recommendations  from  several  large  brewing 
establishments.  Noticing  my  hesitation,  he  said: 
'While  I  have  worked  in  breweries,  I  have  never 
drunk.  Drinking,  you  know,  is  prohibited  in 
breweries.'  'Why.^'  I  exclaimed,  'I  understood 
that  working  men  in  breweries  commonly  receive 
their   daily   stint.'     *Yes,'   he   said,    'but   not   the 


170  ALCOHOL 


office  men.  While  the  manufacturers  make  booze, 
they  don't  permit  any  of  it  in  their  books  or 
business.'" 

Mr.  S.  W.  Otley,  Vice-President  of  the  Detroit 
Steel  Casting  Company,  says:  "Our  practice  has 
been  to  pay  twice  a  month  —  on  the  10th  and 
25th.  We  have  recently  issued  an  order  changing 
pay  day  to  the  Saturdays  nearest  the  10th  and 
25th.  We  did  this  because  there  was  so  much 
drunkenness  following  pay  day  that  our  force  was 
disorganized  and  our  work  was  demoralized." 

It  is  evident  that  the  employment  of  women 
simplifies  the  industrial  problem  in  more  ways  than 
one.  For  Mr.  William  Dow,  of  the  H.  J.  Heinze 
Company,  believes  that:  " Our  general  manufactur- 
ing help  is  so  extensively  made  up  of  women  that 
we  have  very  much  less  difficulty  on  account  of 
alcoholism  than  would  most  other  concerns." 

And  this  opinion  is  shared  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Hart- 
pence,  of  the  Acme  Wire  Company;  Mr.  H.  F. 
Hurd,  of  the  Peabody-Cluett  Company,  and  a 
number  of  others  who  have  kindly  answered  my 
inquiries. 

The  attitude  of  the  railways  concerning  alcohol 
is  tersely  and  emphatically  put  in  a  communication 
from  Mr.  W.  S.  Stone,  Grand  Chief  of  the  Brother- 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  171 


hood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  who  states:  "We 
have  no  data  upon  the  experience  of  the  organiza- 
tion which  would  help  you,  for  the  reason  that  our 
organization  does  not  permit  members  to  remain 
members  who  indulge  in  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors:  In  fact,  the  rule  of  nearly  all  railroads, 
commonly  known  as  Rule  G,  prohibits  the  tak- 
ing of  a  single  drink,  either  on  or  off  duty,  and 
men  are  discharged  for  frequenting  places  in  which 
liquor  is  sold." 

Mr.  J.  W.  Lee,  Jr.,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company,  tells  me:  "The  Pennsylvania  has  but 
one  rule  on  this  subject  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
which  says:  *The  use  of  intoxicants  by  employees 
while  on  duty  is  prohibited.  Their  habitual  use 
or  the  frequenting  of  places  where  they  are  sold  is 
sufficient  cause  for  dismissal.'" 

Mr.  J.  J.  Sullivan,  President  of  The  American 
Railways  Company,  writes:  "We  consider  the  risk 
of  an  accident  caused  by  the  negligence  of  one 
given  to  the  drink  habit  so  great  that  our  rules  — 
which  are  made  for  the  best  interest  of  the  public 
—  are  strictly  enforced.  We  know  that  efficiency 
is  reduced  by  alcoholic  indulgence." 

This  sentiment  is  echoed  by  many  other  promi- 
nent railroad  officials. 


172  ALCOHOL 


Mr.  M.  C.  Brush,  Second  Vice-President  of  the 
Boston  Elevated  Railroad  Company,  says  that  it 
is  gratifying  to  note  that  even  in  the  Union  of  the 
railroad's  employees,  special  attention  is  called  to 
the  personal  responsibility  of  employees  in  the 
avoidance  of  accidents,  and  their  observance  of 
the  rule  prohibiting  the  use  of  liquor  is  urged. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Davis,  General  Manager  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati, Hamilton  &  Dayton  Railway  Company, 
in  concluding  a  generous  letter  of  appreciation, 
says:  *'I  personally  believe  there  is  more  sobriety 
among  railroad  men  as  a  class,  when  the  number 
of  employees  is  considered,  than  in  any  other 
business."  This  sentiment  is  echoed  by  an  official, 
high  in  the  service  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Rail- 
road. 

Some  expression  of  opinion  for  or  against  the 
effects  of  prohibition  may  be  of  interest  here. 
Mr.  James  Bowron,  President  of  the  Gulf  States 
Steel  Company,  WTites:  "Our  record  with  the 
accident  insurance  companies  is  so  extremely  good 
that  it  has  been  frequently  commented  upon, 
and  our  staff  is  disposed  to  regard  the  low  acci- 
dent rate  as  measurably  due  to  our  freedom  from 
drunken  and  tipsy  workmen. 

"Looking  at  the  matter  from  an  entirely  different 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  173 

angle,  I  may  say  that  I  am  also  Vice-President  of 
the  Bessemer  Coal,  Iron  and  Land  Company. 
Prohibition  was  voted  in  this  county  (Birmingham, 
Alabama)  on  the  same  day  in  October,  1907,  that 
the  height  of  a  panic  was  arrived  at  by  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  Knickerbocker  Trust  Company  and 
the  adoption  of  clearing  house  regulations  restrict- 
ing all  drawing  on  private  accounts  to  $100  at  any 
one  time.  This  is  a  mining  and  manufacturing 
community,  and  more  than  half  the  blast  furnaces 
in  the  district  shut  down,  throwing  thousands  of 
miners  out  of  work. 

"The  Bessemer  Company  had,  for  two  or  three 
years  previous  to  the  panic,  been  selling  large 
numbers  of  lots  to  the  miners  on  the  instalment 
plan,  payments  running  over  10  years.  Notwith- 
standing the  panic  and  the  number  of  men  out  of 
employment,  instalment  payments  were  better 
met  under  a  condition  of  panic  plus  prohibition 
than  they  had  been  with  high  wages,  full  work 
plus  liquor.  This  showed  in  a  remarkable  way 
the  greater  eflficiency  of  sober  men  in  the  matter  of 
wage  earning. 

"A  real  estate  firm  told  me  that  their  experience 
in  collecting  rents  was  similar:  Namely,  that  under 
panic   plus   prohibition   they   collected   their   rents 


174  ALCOHOL 


vastly  better  than  under  the  condition  of  luxury 
plus  liquor." 

Mr.  Bowron's  experience  is  paralleled  by  that  of 
Mr.  H.  G.  Prout,  President  of  the  Hall  Switch  and 
Signal  Company:  "For  11  years  I  was  in  charge 
of  the  shops  of  the  Union  Switch  and  Signal 
Company  in  Pennsylvania.  These  shops  are 
located  in  Swissvale,  Edgewood  and  Wilkinsburg  — 
all  prohibition  boroughs.  I  went  into  that  situa- 
tion strongly  opposed  to  prohibition.  I  came  out 
feeling  that  whatever  injustice  might  be  done  to 
individuals  or  vested  interests  by  sweeping  prohi- 
bition laws,  the  gain  to  communities  and  to  the 
nation  would  more  than  compensate  for  such 
injustice. 

"It  was  my  observation  that  our  work  people 
living  in  these  prohibition  boroughs  were  an 
uncommonly  reliable,  self-respecting  set  of  citizens. 
They  were  thrifty,  and  an  important  percentage  of 
them  owned  their  homes." 

Mr.  T.  I.  Stephenson,  President  of  the  Knoxville 
Iron  Company,  and  many  other  executives  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  similar  terms  concerning 
the  effect  of  prohibition.  I  merely  quote  the 
above  as  typical  examples.  However,  the  shield 
also  has  a  reverse  side. 


INDUSTRY    AND    ALCOHOL  175 

Mr.  G.  F.  Meehan,  of  the  Ross-Meehan  Foundry 
Company,  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  says:  "This  state 
has  had  a  prohibition  law  for  several  years  past, 
and,  in  our  opinion,  this  has  served  to  cause  more 
drunkenness  than  we  had  previous  to  the  passage 
of  this  law,  especially  during  the  period  when  there 
was  a  strict  regulation  of  the  saloons." 

The  President  of  a  prominent  New  England 
railroad  says:  "In  my  experience  with  other 
corporations  I  have  had  as  many  as  30,000  men 
under  me  at  one  time.  The  lines  of  these  roads  ran 
through  4  states.  In  none  of  these  was  there 
prohibition.  Yet  I  had  less  trouble  in  5  years 
there  than  I  have  had  in  this,  the  oldest  prohibition 
state  in  the  Union,  in  one  year  with  about  2,000 
men.  In  other  words,  my  experience  has  been 
that  prohibition  does  not  prohibit,  and  that  the 
drinking  habit  is  far  worse  in  prohibition  states 
than  it  is  anywhere  else." 

Yet  whether  prohibition  prohibits  or  not,  the 
general  opinion  of  industry  concerning  alcohol 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  statement  of  Mr.  A.  J. 
Thornley,  Manager  of  the  Narragansett  Machine 
Company,  who  says:  "We  do  not  know  anything 
about  the  scientific  side  of  the  bad  effects  of 
alcohol   on   the   human   system.     Our   experience. 


176  ALCOHOL 


however,  in  dealing  with  it  from  the  industrial  side 
makes  us  ready  to  believe  the  worst  thing  that  can 
be  said  against  it.  Its  use  means  inefficiency, 
greater  liability  to  accident,  to  insubordination,  to 
disorganization.  We  have  proved  this  so  thor- 
oughly to  our  own  satisfaction  that  the  most 
important  rule  in  our  plant  is  to  the  effect  that: 
'No  drinking  man  need  apply.'" 


Chapter  XV 
OLD   JOHN    B.    AND    THE    COLLEGE   MAN 

IT  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  the  follies  and 
stupidities  of  the  German  Universities  are  aped 
in  many  of  our  American  colleges.  In  the  club 
rooms,  and  at  Alumni  reunions,  it  is  common  to 
drink  immoderately  of  beer  drawn  from  the  keg, 
after  the  custom  of  the  German  schools  —  and 
many  a  large  head  and  "dark  brown  taste"  follows 
the  morning  after  the  night  before. 

The  most  regrettable  feature  of  this  lies  in  the 
example.  For,  if  the  cultured  and  supposedly 
educated  youth  of  America  find  recreation  in  social 
drinking,  what  reason,  argue  the  unsophisticated, 
is  there  for  assuming  that  that  way  lies  death  or 
life-shortening  ? 

Subsequent  humiliation  for  their  beery  past  will 
not  mitigate  the  pathological  consequences  of 
methodical  orgies.  Though  a  sinner  reform  and 
become  a  veritable  saint,  he  will  nevertheless  be  a 
limping,  halting  saint. 

177 


178  ALCOHOL 


In  fact,  the  immature  undergraduate  attitude 
on  this  most  momentous  medical,  social,  and 
economic  problem  of  modern  times  was  clearly 
evident  from  the  enthusiastic  reception  of  a  parody 
entitled  "It's  a  Dull  Way  to  Prohibition,"  sung 
by  two  members  of  the  Class  of  1917  at  a  recent 
Harvard  Union  banquet. 

The  song  burlesqued  the  undergraduate  attempts 
to  make  the  Sophomore  class  "dry."  And  as  I 
write  this,  the  youngest  class  at  Harvard  has 
clambered  up  and  onto  the  Beer  Wagon,  and  with 
loosened  rein  is  scampering  merrily  after  its 
Sophomore  brethren  who,  by  a  three  to  one 
majority,  recently  voted  for  that  first-aid  to  ner- 
vous stupidity,  the  foaming  beaker.  Which  helps 
to  prove  that  the  average  college  man  is  an  aca- 
demician—  hopelessly  archaic  in  point  of  scien- 
tific knowledge  and  sapiently  certain  of  his  own 
cock-surance. 

For,  with  students  particularly,  the  action  of 
alcohol  and  special  intellectual  and  nervous  strain 
operate  frequently  to  bring  about  very  obstinate 
nervous  troubles.  There  are  many  more  break- 
downs from  beer  than  from  books. 

This  fact  is  recognized  by  the  scholarly  men 
who  have  charge  of  the  United  States  Army  and 


JOHN  B.  AND  THE  COLLEGE  MAN   179 

Navy  Schools.  These  have  absolutely  forbidden 
the  use  of  all  alcoholic  liquors,  including  beer,  to 
their  bright  young  students  in  the  art  of  scientific 
assassination. 

These  objections  are  shared  by  the  majority  of 
our  university  heads.  Their  general  attitude  to- 
ward alcohol  is  ably  summed  up  in  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Howard  McClenehan,  Dean  of  Princeton 
University,  who  says:  "We  regard  drinking  as 
harmful,  especially  for  young  men,  and  we  there- 
fore are  making  every  effort  to  discourage  and 
prevent  it.  We  forbid  absolutely  the  keeping  or 
drinking  of  alcoholic  liquors  in  college  buildings  or 
dormitories.  We  forbid  also  the  frequenting  of 
saloons  and  drinking  places.  In  addition,  the 
University  conducts  a  course  of  education  upon 
the  influence  of  drink." 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of 
Harvard  University,  writes  me  that  "My  observa- 
tion among  students  of  Harvard  University  during 
the  last  65  years  is  that  the  use  of  alcohol  among 
them  has  very  much  diminished,  —  particularly 
during  the  last  25  years.  This  improvement  has 
been  the  result  of  voluntary  action  altogether. 
Locally  in  Cambridge  the  absence  of  saloons  has 
been    of    advantage.     So    far    as    I    am    able    to 


180  ALCOHOL 


judge,  the  recent  physiological  demonstrations, 
that  alcoholic  drinks  diminish  efficiency  in  all 
occupations,  have  not  yet  had  much  effect  on 
the  educated  class;  but,  as  these  demonstrations 
become  known,  I  cannot  but  think  that  they 
will  reenforce  the  general  tendency  towards  tem- 
perance. 

"For  myself,  I  can  perhaps  best  put  my  con- 
clusions about  the  use  of  alcohol  in  the  following 
way :  —  If  I  were  to  begin  life  over  again,  I  would 
start  as  a  total  abstainer  from  alcoholic  drinks, 
and  would  not  offer  them  to  friends  or  guests  in 
my  house.  This  conclusion  is  based  on  the  con- 
viction that  alcoholism  is  the  greatest  evil  which 
afflicts  the  white  race,  —  first,  because  of  its  own 
effects,  and  secondly,  because  it  induces  or  promotes 
other  grave  evils." 

Dr.  Eliot's  hopeful  attitude  concerning  the  future 
relations  of  alcohol  and  education  is  shared  by 
Roger  I.  Lee,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Hygiene  of 
Harvard  University,  who  answers  my  communica- 
tion addressed  to  President  Lowell  by  saying: 
"There  has  been  a  striking  decrease  in  the  use  of 
alcohol  among  the  students  during  the  past  few 
years.  This  decrease  seems  to  be  a  part  oi  the 
general  appreciation  of  the  effects  of  alcohol.     So 


JOHN  B.  AND  THE  COLLEGE  MAN   181 

far  as  can  be  determined,  this  decrease  is  con- 
tinuous." Which  affords  much  consolation  to  those 
among  us  who  would  like  to  see  deficiency  replaced 
by  efficiency. 

Dr.  Arthur  Hadley,  President  of  Yale  University, 
raises  a  most  interesting  and  unique  question  in  a 
communication  in  which  he  says:  "In  looking  up 
the  records  of  the  University  Club  I  was  greatly 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  ginger  ale  was  much 
more  used  than  any  other  beverage;  and  from  the 
information  given  by  the  encyclopedia  as  to  the 
percentages  of  alcohol  in  ginger  ale,  beer,  and 
stronger  drinks,  I  was  convinced  that  most  of  the 
alcohol  consumed  by  the  students  was  taken  in 
this  form." 

There  is  a  scarcity  of  American  statistics  on  the 
subject  of  ginger  ale  and  "temperance"  drinks, 
but  an  investigator  has  told  us  something  of  condi- 
tions in  Canada,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  they  differ  materially  among  us. 

We  learn  that  out  of  14  samples  of  ginger  beer 
analyzed  3  were  strongly  impregnated  with  alcohol, 
while  another  so-called  temperance  beer  contained 
enough  proof  spirit  to  send  some  people  home 
talking  to  themselves.  In  Kingston  one  could  buy 
for   10  cents    enough    beer    containing    2.86%    of 


182  ALCOHOL 


alcohol,  to  start  a  riot.  In  Winnipeg  ginger  beer 
was  found  which  contained  4.71  %  of  alcohol. 
The  enthusiastic  temperance  advocate  might  on 
this  suffer  all  the  horrible  effects  of  katzen jammer 
and  "morning  after"  repentance  which  would 
normally  accrue  to  him  as  a  result  of  saturating 
his  system  with  the  ordinary  domestic  or  garden 
variety  of  beer. 

And  also  do  not  forget  that  cider  —  the  "temper- 
ance" drink  of  many  college  men  who  profess  an 
undisguised  horror  for  alcohol  —  is  decidedly  alco- 
holic. For,  while  it  is  sweet  and  harmless  —  for 
a  few  days  —  alcoholic  fermentation  is  quickly 
established.  And  than  a  "hard"  cider  "jag" 
there  is  nothing  jaggier  or  more  insidious  in 
developing  an  alcoholic  craving  —  as  many  a 
chronic  drunkard  can  testify. 

Briefly,  the  opinion  of  college  heads  concerning 
alcohol  is  summed  up  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  David 
Starr  Jordan,  President  of  Stanford  University, 
who  says: 

"My  experience  with  alcohol  in  relation  to 
students  is  that  a  boy  that  is  convivially  inclined 
is  not  likely  to  do  any  very  good  work  in  the 
University.  We  have  for  the  last  6  or  7  years 
practically  excluded  all  students  who  visit  saloons. 


JOHN  B.  AND  THE  COLLEGE  MAN   183 

The  influence  of  alcohol  is  always  to  dissolve  the 
restraints  and  reserves  which  we  call  character 
building,  and  that  is  true  in  the  physical  as  well 
as  in  the  moral  sense.  I  am  convinced  that  alcohol 
and  accuracy  do  not  go  together." 


Chapter  XVI 
WHAT  IT  COSTS  AND  WHAT  ITS  WORTH 

THE  widespread  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  lias 
been  conservatively  estimated  as  causing  the 
loss  of  21%  in  the  efficiency  of  the  nation's 
workers.  The  production  of  wealth  is  reckoned 
at  about  $32,000,000,000  yearly;  the  loss  due  to 
deficiency  (or  diminished  efficiency)  in  round 
numbers  is  therefore  fully  $8,500,000,000.  The 
total  cost  of  the  Great  War  in  Europe  for  the 
first  year  was  $15,000,000,000. 

Mr.  Bryan  estimates,  after  careful  statistical 
study  of  the  alcohol  question,  that  the  United 
States  spends  annually  almost  $2,500,000,000  for 
intoxicating  liquors. 

In  a  speech,  made  March  15,  1915,  he  said: 

"The  annual  appropriations  of  the  Federal 
Government  are  little  less  than  $1,250,000,000. 
Think  of  this  nation  spending  twice  that  amount 
for  alcoholic  liquors. 

"The    cost    of    the   Panama    Canal    was    about 

185 


186  ALCOHOL 


$400,000,000.  Is  it  not  appalling  to  think  we 
spend  for  drink  every  year  6  times  the  cost  of  the 
Panama  Canal? 

"It  is  estimated  that  we  spend  $750,000,000 
annually  for  education.  And  yet  we  spend  for 
drink  more  than  3  times  this  amount. 

"The  nation  submits  to  this  taxation,  which  is 
5  times  as  great  as  any  taxation  it  would  permit 
any  political  party  to  levy." 

Or  consider  it  from  this  angle:  America's  fire 
loss  is  far  greater  than  that  of  any  other  nation. 
As  a  result  of  our  foolish  and  wasteful  use  of 
wood  for  building  material,  we  burn  a  house  down 
on  an  average  of  every  10  minutes,  and  the  houses 
thus  destroyed  during  a  year,  if  placed  side  by 
side,  would  stretch  in  an  unbroken  avenue  of 
desolation  from  New  York  to  Chicago.  Yet  the 
financial  loss  from  fire,  according  to  a  recent 
report  by  the  head  of  the  New  York  City  Fire 
Department,  is  only  $2.68  per  capita,  a  mere 
fraction  of  what  drink  costs. 

Dr.  Hopkins,  whose  "Wealth  and  Waste"  is  a 
text  book  on  the  economics  of  the  alcohol  question 
in  over  400  colleges,  has  this  to  say  concerning  the 
economic  relations  of  alcohol  and  industry. 

"Much    less    than    $250,000,000    a   year    is    the 


ITS    COST    AND     ITS    WORTH  187 

national  revenue  of  this  country  from  liquor  drunk; 
the  cost  of  which  to  the  drinkers  is  not  less  than 
$2,500,000,000;  its  cost  to  the  people  is  vastly 
more;  and  the  people's  loss  on  account  of  it  is  at 
least  $5,000,000,000  a  year." 

Each  12  months  the  10,000,000  or  more  drinkers 
in  the  United  States  pay  over  liquor  bars  more 
money  than  the  total  of  all  the  gold  and  silver 
mined  and  minted  in  this  country  in  40  years. 

Every  10  months  the  loss  and  waste  resulting 
from  the  liquor  traffic  in  this  country  is  greater 
than  all  the  gold  produced  in  America  since  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  to  the  present  time. 
For  since  1848  (when  gold  was  first  discovered) 
California  has  not  produced  sufficient  of  the  aurifer- 
ous metal  up  to  1899,  to  pay  for  the  liquor  and 
beer  drunk  in  America  for  16  months,  —  to  say 
nothing  of  the  loss  and  waste  caused  by  this 
drinking. 

Since  the  discovery  of  America  the  entire  silver 
and  gold  production  of  the  world  would  not  make 
up  a  total  of  $20,480,748,600,  the  drink  bill  of  this 
country  for  20  years. 

Every  9  months  our  contribution  to  John  Bar- 
leycorn exceeds  all  the  capital  of  all  the  national 
banks  of  the  United  States.     In  other  words,  we 


188  ALCOHOL 


are  paying  him  more  money  than  the  whole  circu- 
lating medium  of  the  nation  —  gold,  silver,  and 
paper  combined. 

Or  attempt  to  visualize  it  in  this  way:  Remem- 
bering that  the  Washington  Monument  is  550 
feet  high,  if  the  dollars  spent  for  alcoholic  drinks 
were  piled  in  a  monument  a  foot  square,  it  would 
make  a  memorial  to  Old  John  Barleycorn  67 
miles  high,  670  times  the  height  of  the  Washington 
Monument. 

Yet  the  money  paid  for  drink  is,  by  far,  the 
least  significant  part  of  the  heavy  tribute  levied 
by  this  emperor  of  drugs  —  Alcohol.  His  toll  of 
death,  disease,  degeneracy,  and  degradation  is  still 
further  supplemented  by  his  influence  in  causing 
crime,  pauperism,  prostitution,  venereal  disease, 
and  divorce. 

Prisoners  in  the  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Peni- 
tentiary —  in  a  petition  signed  by  1008  of  their 
1478  total,  praying  the  Legislature  to  abolish  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  liquors  —  ascribed  70  % 
of  all  crime  to  its  use.  This  was  based  on  personal 
canvass  of  the  inmates. 

Some  1200  convicts  in  the  Illinois  States  Prison 
at  Joliet  were  preparing  a  similar  petition  to  the 
Legislature  of  that  State,  when,  for  some  esoteric 


ITS    COST    AND    ITS    WORTH  189 

reason,  it  was  forbidden  by  the  warden.  But 
from  many  prisons  and  penitentiaries  in  the  nation, 
and  through  many  prison  pubhcations,  the  states 
and  nation  are  being  called  upon  to  prohibit  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  alcohol,  to  which  from 
50%  to  90%  of  the  convicts  attribute  their  downfall. 

The  most  reliable  figures  agree  that  at  least 
75%  of  all  pauperism  must  be  credited  to  John 
Barleycorn's  account.  Drink  leads  to  poverty  as 
inevitably  as  the  drink  habit  leads  to  idleness. 
Every  drinking  man  loses  an  ever-increasing 
amount  of  time  from  his  work,  while  he  develops 
for  this  work  an  ever-growing  disinclination,  and 
loses  in  his  occupation  an  ever-increasing  degree 
of  skill. 

Also,  it  is  conservatively  estimated  that  40% 
of  sexual  immorality  is  caused  by  drink.  Indeed, 
as  a  result  of  inquiries  and  investigations  in 
hundreds  of  penitentiaries,  reformatories,  work- 
houses, and  hospitals,  many  are  inclined  to  place 
the  rate  much  higher.  But  4  out  of  10  is  a  dis- 
graceful enough  tally,  even  for  John  Barleycorn. 

According  to  the  statistics  of  Professor  Forel, 
who  probably  knows  more  about  the  subject  than 
any  living  man,  approximately  75%  of  venereal 
disease  is  contracted  by  men  under  the  influence  of 


190  ALCOHOL 


alcohol  —  chiefly  by  persons  slightly  intoxicated, 
and  rendered  more  excitable  and  irresponsible 
thereby.  The  suffering,  the  misery,  the  heartaches, 
and  the  broken  homes  that  this  entails  is  incal- 
culable. 

In  discussing  this  subject  Professor  T.  G.  Masa- 
ryk,  of  the  University  of  Prague,  said:  "Drink 
damages  the  relations  of  man  to  woman.  These 
are  coarsened  and  degraded.  The  old  Austrian 
saying  is  that  when  Bacchus  fires,  Venus  sits 
behind  the  stove.  Modern  investigation  indubita- 
bly teaches  that  drinking  corrupts  the  sex  life  of 
our  day.  Alcoholism  and  prostitution  are  the  chief 
factors  in  the  degeneration  of  nations." 

And,  it  might  be  added,  of  divorce.  For, 
according  to  the  Census  Bureau,  1  divorce  in 
every  5  has  intemperance  as  a  cause.  From  1889 
to  1906  there  were  184,396  divorces  due  to  intem- 
perance on  the  part  of  husband  or  wife. 

Those  who  make  money  out  of  the  rum  traflic 
exclaim:  "We  give  employment  to  thousands. 
Incalculable  wealth  would  be  lost  if  we  shut  up 
shop.  Numberless  men  would  be  thrown  out  of 
employment  —  possibly  to  swell  the  long  file  of 
the  bread  line." 

The   Booze    Barons    point    with    horror    to    the 


ITS    COST    AND    ITS    WORTH  191 

gigantic  sums  of  money  removed  from  productive 
activity,  to  empty  warehouses  and  stores,  workless 
cooper  shops,  bottle  and  glass  factories,  insolvent 
railroads  —  and  perhaps  even  to  a  bankrupt 
government  —  if  rum  is  banished. 

Which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  no  money 
withdrawn  from  anything  connected  with  the 
liquor  business  would,  or  could,  ever  be  profitably 
reinvested.  Or  that  the  million  and  one  splendid 
enterprises  —  many  of  which  now  languish  and  die 
for  want  of  a  little  capital  —  would  refuse  to  accept 
money  that  had  ever  been  corrupted  in  the  liquor 
traffic. 

These  may  have  been  good  arguments  in  those 
days  before  the  deadly  multiplication  table  became 
common  even  to  school  boys;  before  we  understood 
conservation  of  forces;  and  before  we  knew  that 
the  light  of  the  candle,  when  it  was  blown  out, 
remained  right  where  it  was  —  in  the  form  of 
potential  energy. 

Now  we  know  that  the  highest  proportionate 
amount  paid  in  wages  in  any  industry  is  88%. 
This  is  for  the  construction  and  repair  of  steam 
railroad  cars.  The  proportionate  amount  paid  as 
wages  in  the  manufacture  of  malt  liquors  is  only 
20.2%,    that    paid    for    wages    in    manufacturing 


192  ALCOHOL 


patent  medicines  15.5%,  and  that  portion  doled 
out  to  those  who  manufacture  distilled  liquors  is 
less  than  2%. 

We  also  know  that  the  capital  invested  in  the 
liquor  traffic,  based  on  the  figures  of  1912,  was 
$771,516,000.  This  capital  employed  but  62,920 
workers  —  approximately  81  to  every  $1,000,000. 
If  employed  in  textile  manufacturing,  this  same 
investment  would  have  paid  wages  to  over  445,000 
workers  —  more  than  7  times  as  many  as  altogether 
are  employed  in  the  manufacture  and  distribution 
of  malt  and  spirituous  liquors.  Or,  taking  the  5 
great  groups  of  legitimate  industry,  and  averaging 
their  employment  of  labor,  the  $771,000,000  of 
liquor  capital  would  employ  at  least  5  times  the 
number  of  workmen  that  derive  a  living  through 
liquor. 

So  the  drinking  man  maintains  the  Drink 
Industry  —  and  nothing  else.  And  the  Drink 
Industry,  as  we  have  seen,  employs  fewer  men  to 
the  million  of  capital  than  any  other  leading 
manufacturing  interest. 


Chapter  XVII 
BREAKING   TEE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES 

THERE  is  a  cure  for  every  drunkard  in  the 
world.  For  every  excessivist,  no  matter  how 
drink-drenched,  how  sodden,  how  hopeless-seeming; 
no  matter  how  degraded,  how  soul-seared;  no 
matter  what  his  heredity,  his  environment,  his 
economic  condition;  no  matter  the  number  of 
times  he  has  mumbled  —  with  parched,  quivering 
lips,  the  rosary  of  his  black  beads  of  misery  and 
self-debasement,  or  tried  to  pluck  the  climbing 
sorrow  from  the  wall  of  his  heart  of  hearts  — 
somewhere,  somehow,  by  some  means  —  medical  or 
psychical  —  there  is  a  cure  for  him. 

The  veriest  slave,  the  most  debased  bondsman 
of  that  mocking  master  that  makes  a  dullard  — 
no,  an  imbecile  —  of  the  world,  under  wise  and 
skillful  care  can  tear  loose  from  the  tentacles  of 
that  ferocious  polyp  that  is  dragging  him  to  slimy 
death;  he  can  be  saved  from  this  demon  who  is 
piping  him  into  the  caverns  of  Hell. 

Yet  there  is  no  rose-strewn,  lightsome  road  to 

193 


194  ALCOHOL 


abstinence.  For  the  most  important  necessity  for 
reform  is  willingness  to  be  reformed,  and  unless  he 
is  willing  to  make  some  sacrifice  and  "stand  the 
gaff"  with  patience  and  courage  for  a  while,  no 
drinker  can  be  cured. 

Remember  also  that  the  remaking  of  a  man  is 
not  the  work  of  a  day  nor  a  week  —  perhaps  not 
of  a  year.  It  may  require  time,  and  the  liberal 
expenditure  of  soul-strength  before  the  guerdon  is 
finally  won.  After  having  been  daily  dosed  in 
every  drink  with  apomorphine,  or  some  other 
emetic  base  of  many  "whiskey-cures,"  one  can  be 
sickened  to  absolute  loathing  for  alcohol.  But 
unless  temptation  is  resisted  when  the  desire 
returns,  as  it  frequentl}^  does,  again  and  again,  no 
cure  can  be  permanent. 

Nothing  which  can  be  "dropped  into  the  coffee," 
administered  in  the  food,  or  introduced  into  the 
system  in  any  secret  way  is  of  the  slightest  avail 
in  the  cure  of  drunkenness.  There  is  absolutely 
no  treatment  that  can  be  given  "without  the 
patient's  knowledge,"  that  is  of  the  slightest  value. 
For  cooperation  is  required,  the  physical  system 
must  be  tuned  up,  and  the  alcohol  sickness  cured 
—  so  that  later  the  victim  may  refrain  from  drink, 
or  have  the  moral  courage  to  flee  temptation. 


BREAKING  THE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES    195 

It  is  unfortunate  that  there  is  not  something 
that  secretly  could  be  given  that  would  arouse  the 
dormant  man,  and  kill  the  alcoholic  craving  within 
him,  but  such  does  not  exist  —  all  the  quacks 
in  Christendom  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
There  is  nothing  that  will  compel  a  man,  against 
his  will,  to  quit  the  use  of  alcohol.  He  may  be 
"doped"  until  he  will  vomit  at  the  very  sight  — 
let  alone  smell  —  of  liquor.  But  so  soon  as  he 
can  get  alcohol  without  emetics,  and  is  able  to  keep 
it  down  —  which  he  will  be  after  a  trial  or  two  — 
he  knows  that  he  is  not  cured,  and  nobody  can 
convince  him  that  he  is. 

Every  drunkard  is  a  sick  man.  His  tissues  are 
poisoned,  his  cells  are  loaded  with  under-oxydized 
material,  his  elimination  is  imperfect,  his  nerves 
have  "gone  to  smash."  His  circulatory  system 
is  affected,  and  his  digestive  apparatus  is  sub- 
normal. 

Assimilation  and  metabolism  are  perceptibly 
"slowed  up"  —  perceptibly  to  the  trained  eye  of  an 
expert  —  and  even  normal  muscle  tone  is  lowered. 
In  short,  though  he  may  not  know  it,  the  drunkard 
is  a  very  sick  man,  and  he  must  be  brought  to  a 
better  condition  of  health  before  he  can  ban  from 
his  system  the  devil  of  alcoholic  desire. 


196  ALCOHOL 


All  medical  means  of  curing  inebriety,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  should  be  entrusted  to  wise  and 
experienced  supervision.  The  firm  restraint  and 
salutary  restrictions  of  the  hospital  or  sanitarium 
are  almost  indispensable.  A  drug  patient  always 
"does  better"  among  strangers  than  among  rela- 
tives or  friends  whom  he  can  wheedle,  cajole,  or 
brow-beat  at  will.  Therefore,  a  most  important 
adjunct  in  the  cure  of  inebriety  is  a  gentle, 
mild-mannered  nurse  who  invariably  has  her  own 
way. 

That  radical  and  very  effective  treatment  for 
drug  addiction  and  inebriety,  originated  by  Mr. 
C.  B.  Townes,  of  New  York,  and  described  by  Dr. 
Alexander  Lambert,  has  been  most  successfully 
employed  in  thousands  of  desperate  cases  of 
alcoholism,  and  has  high  endorsement.  It  is  not 
adapted  to  all  cases  —  particularly  where  grave 
debility  exists,  but  the  man  who  really  desires  to 
be  free  is  freed  from  his  habit  —  provided  that  he 
can  be  made  to  realize  that  he  is  mentally  a  trifle 
unpoised,  and  that  his  nervous  system  is,  for  a 
time,  unstable,  and  not  fitted  to  withstand  the 
strain  and  stress  of  hard  work  and  worry. 

This  treatment,  it  goes  without  saying,  must  be 
administered   under  the  guidance  of  a  competent 


BREAKING    THE    ALCOHOL    SHACKLES         197 

physician.  Briefly,  Towne  and  Lambert  claim  that 
it  is  impossible,  unless  by  some  miracle  of  grace, 
to  cure  a  victim  of  alcohol  while  the  physical 
effects  of  the  drug  he  is  using  are  with  him,  con- 
stantly and  insidiously  undoing  the  work  of  rejuve- 
nation. Therefore,  they  first  secure  a  thorough 
elimination  of  the  accumulated  poison.  This  is 
accomplished  by  giving  the  patient  generous  doses 
of  compound  cathartic  pills  and  "blue-mass,"  fol- 
low^ed  by  a  vigorous  saline  laxative. 

This  leaves  the  patient  a  "little  the  worse  for 
wear,"  but  free  from  alcohol  craving.  For  his 
alcoholized  protoplasm  has  been  scoured  clean.  It 
is  then  "up  to  him"  to  keep  it  clean. 

Also,  he  must  be  brought  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
physical  efficiency,  by  rest,  exercise,  diet,  and  a 
judicious  use  of  tonics.  This  may  require  3  v/eeks 
or  a  month  —  and  if  physical  improvement  can  be 
effected,  the  exhausted  and  debilitated  condition 
will  not  tempt  to  that  dangerous  "nibbling"  and 
flirting  with  the  old  enemy  that  has  proved  the 
undoing  of  thousands. 

For  the  excessivist,  there  is  no  safe  luiddle 
course.  There  is  no  compromise.  No  one  who  has 
ever  been  an  addict  can  touch  alcohol,  without  the 
gravest   danger   of   a   complete  relapse.     The   first 


19B  ALCOHOL 


drink  —  even  the  tiniest  —  may  start  up  all  the 
old  craving.  Alcoliol  and  the  nervous  system  of 
one  who  has  been  addicted  to  it  are  incompatible, 
for  alcohol  unites  v/ith  the  brain  and  nerve  fat  to 
form  poisonous  combinations,  which  prevent  the 
normal  reaction  of  the  brain  cells. 

So  no  confirmed  alcoholic  can  hope  ever  again 
to  drink  "in  moderation."  He  may  hold  this  faint 
hope,  against  everything  that  is  told  him,  but  if  he 
yields  to  the  temptation  to  again  try,  he  is  undone. 
The  attempts  to  nibble  have  caused  the  relapse  of 
thousands,  who,  had  they  been  content  to  *'let 
well  enough  alone/*  vrould  have  remained  cured. 

Another  remedy,  which  at  first,  because  of  its 
secret  composition,  I  hesitated  to  endorse,  is 
Normyl.  Yet  Dr.  F.  D.  Essen,  and  other  physi- 
cians of  New  York,  have  had  extraordinarily 
successful  experiences  with  it.  Also  the  Normyl 
Association  is  practically  a  philanthropy. 

Physicians  who  have  used  Normyl  declare  that 
it  has  not  the  slightest  deleterious  effect,  can  be 
taken  without  detention  from  work,  or  without 
resorting  to  sanitarium  confinement,  and  cures 
every  case  that  will  cooperate  toward  being  and 
rernyining  cured. 

In  the  sanitarium  which  the  Normyl  Association 


BREAKING    THE    ALCOHOL    SHACKLES        199 

has  established  in  New  York,  several  hundred 
cures  of  alcohol  and  morphine  addiction  have  been 
effected,  complete  failures  averaging  considerably 
under  10%. 

Dr.  Essen  assiu-es  me  that,  if  an  habitue  really 
desires  to  be  rid  of  this  habit  (and  the  remedy  is 
even  more  successful  in  morphine  and  other  nar- 
cotic addictions  than  it  is  with  alcoholism)  in  every 
instance  a  cure  will  follow. 

All  desire  for  drink  vanishes  with  practically  the 
first  dose,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the  suffering 
resulting  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  alcohol  or 
opium  is  negligible. 

Many  indi\dduals,  without  apparent  rhyme  or 
reason,  periodically  "go  off"  on  ''sprees."  Their 
cycle  may  be  a  week,  or  it  may  be  a  year  or  more, 
but  they  are  as  regular  in  this  debauchery  as  is  the 
precession  of  the  equinoxes. 

^Vhile  this  periodic  narcotic  craving  may  be  a 
form  of  mental  disease  —  a  symptom  of  a  degenera- 
tion which  may  ultimately  result  in  a  complete 
nervous  and  mental  breakdown  —  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  a  most  important  cause  for  sprees  has 
been  overlooked. 

This  cause  is  chronic  nicotine  poisoning  —  more 
particularly  affecting  cigarette  smokers,  or  pipe  or 


200  ALCOHOL 


cigar  smokers  who  "inhale."  For  those  addicted 
to  sprees  are,  in  a  very  large  majority  of  instances, 
either  cigarette  smokers  or  heavy  users  of  tobacco. 

The  explanation  is  that  these  patients  smoke 
themselves  beyond  the  sedative  stage  and  into  a 
stale  of  nervousness,  then  increase  their  smoking, 
in  a  vaiii  attem.pt  to  gain  sedation.  Finally  they 
become  so  nervous  through  tobacco  excesses  that 
they  require  a  narcotic  to  quiet  them,  when  they 
tarn  to  our  friend,  John  Barleycorn. 

Their  jaded  and  harassed  systems  are  exceedingly 
intolerant  to  alcohol,  for,  after  the  first  few  drinks 
they  are  mentally  "over  the  vv^ay."  They  then 
decide  that  they  might  as  well  be  drunk  as  be  the 
way  they  are,  so  go  to  the  full  spree. 

However,  if  one  honestly  desires  to  quit  the  use 
of  tobacco  the  cure  is  comparatively  simple.  A 
mouth  wash  and  gargle  composed  of 

One  dram  of  silver  nitrate, 
30  grains  of  pulverized  alum, 
2  drams  hydrogen  dioxide,  and 
1  pint  of  distilled  water 

will  do  the  work. 

Use  a  small  quantity  whenever  the  desire  to 
smoke  or  chew  manifests  itself.     It  is   absolutely 


BREAKING  THE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES    201 

harmless,  even  on  continued  use  —  provided  of 
course  that  it  be  not  swallowed.  If  this  mixture  is 
used  faithfully,  the  attempts  to  use  tobacco  will  be 
followed  by  a  most  emphatic  nausea.  Get  rid  of 
the  tobacco  habit  if  you  would  get  rid  of  the 
alcohol  habit,  for  they  fit  together  and  complement 
one  another  like  the  tactile  fingers  and  thumb  of  a 
pick-pocket. 

The  more  sugar  one  eats  the  less  alcohol  he 
drinks.  K  one's  sugar  appetite  be  kept  satisfied 
he  is  quite  unlikely  to  develop  an  alcohol  appetite. 
Dr.  Andreas  F.  Christian,  of  Boston,  who  has  been 
conducting  an  exhaustive  research  into  the  cause 
and  remedy  for  the  liquor  habit,  concludes  that 
the  richest  of  ice  cream  and  an  abundance  of  the 
finest  chocolates  are  the  best  and  surest  cure  for 
alcoholism. 

Dr.  B.  L.  Spitzig,  of  Cleveland,  suggests  a 
similar  treatment.  He  finds  that  in  alcoholism 
there  is  most  generally  a  positive  aversion  for 
sugar.  As  the  supply  of  alcohol  is  increased  the 
desire  for  sugars  is  correspondingly  diminished, 
until  a  time  when  alcohol  is  taken  in  preference  to 
carbohydrates. 

This  characteristic  in  the  chronic  alcoholic  is 
quite  general.    He  rarely  uses  sugar  in  coffee,  and 


202  ALCOHOL 


cares  little  for  pastry  and  starchy  products.  Stimu- 
lating food,  rich  in  condiments,  is  his  mainstay, 
and  his  appetite  for  stimulating  drinks  is  thereby 
increased.  In  consequence  the  body  receives  a 
minimum  of  sugar,  and  becomes  accustomed  to 
more   alcohol,    which   replaces   the   sugar. 

Therefore,  in  beginning  treatment  the  diet  is 
modified  to  contain  an  abundance  of  sugar.  Cereals 
with  cane  sugar,  sweet  fruits,  pastries,  chocolates, 
and  ice  cream  are  given.  In  some  instances,  owing 
to  a  distaste  for  sugars,  Dr.  Spitzig  suggests  that 
the  change  should  be  gradual,  to  prevent  rebellion. 
In  such  cases  lactose  is  used,  a  dram  every  two 
hours,  given  in  the  form  of  a  medicinal  powder, 
to  encourage  the  psychic  effect. 

Later,  as  the  demand  for  alcohol  is  palliated, 
ordinary  sugars  are  taken  with  avidity.  During 
the  entire  treatment  elimination  is  increased  by 
every  known  means;  hot  drinks,  sweat  baths, 
purgatives,  etc.  The  sugars  are  gradually  reduced 
as  the  patient  resumes  a  normal  condition. 

The  weaning  from  alcohol  is  accomplished  by 
the  substitution  of  highly  sugared  liquors,  which 
are  rapidly  reduced  in  quantity.  Toddies,  juleps, 
and  sweet  wines  yield  the  best  results.  Sweetened 
liquor    relieves    excessive    craving    in    from    1    to 


BREAKING  THE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES   203 

4  weeks.  The  average  alcoholic  omits  alcohol 
after  from  3  to  5  days,  but  a  premature  withdrawal 
is  to  be  avoided. 

Also,  it  is  well  known  that  rarely  is  there  found 
a  drunkard  who  is  fond  of  apples.  In  fact,  it  is 
definitely  proven  that  apples  are  an  antidote  for 
the  alcoholic  craving.  They  create  a  distaste  for 
whiskey,  and  after  one  has  eaten  an  apple  he 
cannot  relish  —  and  frequently  cannot  take  with 
any  degree  of  comfort  —  a  drink  of  liquor. 

Therefore  a  large  organization  of  serious-minded 
women  of  Chicago  have  just  completed  arrange- 
ments for  a  campaign  in  which  they  will  fight 
whiskey  drinking  with  apples.  They  are  confident 
that  the  agent  which  is  popularly  believed  to  have 
caused  the  fall  of  the  human  race  may  now  regen- 
erate a  portion  of  it.  With  this  organization  of 
women  as  close  observers,  Dr.  Samuel  Bailey,  of 
Iowa,  has  been  experimenting  on  the  anti-rum 
qualities  of  apples.  During  his  experiments  Dr. 
Bailey  has  cured  several  hundred  drunkards  by 
feeding  them  apples  when  they  wanted  a  drink. 

Dr.  Samuel  McComb  of  the  Emanuel  Church 
in  Boston,  has  inaugurated  a  movement  which 
has  met  with  splendid  success  among  drunkards. 
Combining    the    influence    of   prayer    and    mental 


204  ALCOHOL 


suggestion  the  Doctor  has  succeeded  in  breaking 
the  shackles  from  scores  of  most  debauched  alco- 
holics. His  practice  is  sound.  For  modern  medical 
psychology  now  admits  that  there  is  in  every  man 
a  reserve  fund  of  energy  —  a  fund  not  commonly 
utilized  —  but  which,  under  great  necessity,  or 
through  the  impulse  of  some  overpowering  dynamic 
idea,  may  be  drawn  upon  for  the  benefit  of  the 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  organism. 

A  whole-hearted  faith  in  God's  healing  and  a 
redeeming  grace  thus  becomes  the  means  of  tapping 
this  subconscious  reservoir  of  power,  and  may  be 
the  basis  of  the  success  of  Dr.  McComb  and  others 
who  are  faithfully  and  painstakingly  working  along 
these  lines. 

Similar  results  follow  psychological  treatment  at 
the  hands  of  men  like  Dr.  John  D.  Quackenbos,  of 
New  York,  Dr.  Boris  Sidis  and  Dr.  I.  H.  Coriat 
of  Boston,  of  Aschaffenburg,  Kraepelin,  and  others. 
For  powerful  suggestion,  persistently  repeated,  fre- 
quently induces  a  curative  spiritual  nausea  —  a 
revulsion  of  soul  against  even  the  very  odor  of 
alcohol. 

An  important  matter  in  any  cure  for  alcoholism 
is  properly  regulated  diet.  Great  care  must  be 
taken    to   give  all   the   most   easily  digested    and 


BREAKING  THE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES   205 

nourishing  food  the  patient  can  utilize  —  and  no 
more. 

The  general  health  will  also  be  benefited  by 
judicious  exercise,  plenty  of  fresh  air,  day  and 
night,  tepid  or  cold  baths  —  or  hot  baths  at  bed- 
time —  and  proper  mental  occupation  and  divertise- 
ment.  Remember  that  the  more  vigorous  the 
physical  condition,  the  less  chance  for  relapse. 

The  lasting  effects  of  any  treatment  are  naturally 
influenced  by  the  environment  to  which  a  patient 
must  return.  So  if  the  environment  is  not  good, 
and  it  is  possible  to  leave  it  behind,  by  all  means 
do  so. 

Excepting  the  elderly,  or  in  those  with  weakened 
hearts,  physical  exercise  is  the  very  best  after- 
treatment.  The  responsibilities  of  one's  occupation 
(unless  one  happens  to  be  engaged  in  the  brewery 
or  liquor  business,  in  which  case  he  had  better  seek 
a  less  dangerous  job)  should  be  resumed  as  soon  as 
returning  strength  will  permit.  This  shouldering 
of  responsibility  is  infinitely  better  than  idleness 
and  the  distrust  of  one's  powers  which  idleness 
engenders,  and  serves  also  to  act  as  a  hopeful  and 
powerful  suggestion. 

So  alcohol  addiction  is  curable.  It  requires 
merely  that  the  addict  desire  with  his  whole  soul 


206  ALCOHOL 


to  be  cured;  that  a  method  suited  to  his  individual 
requirements  be  selected;  and  that  patient,  doctor, 
and  family  all  work  together  —  in  absolute  confi- 
dence that  a  perfect,  permanent  result  will  follow 
sincere  and  intelligent  effort. 

Yet  our  chiefest  concern  should  be  to  prevent 
rather  than  cure  drunkenness.  We  have  been 
densely  ignorant  of  the  psychological  and  physical 
effects  of  alcohol.  We  have  hitherto  known  it 
only  in  its  gross,  palpable  effects.  Now,  however, 
we  know  it  in  its  less  obvious,  but  not  less  disas- 
trous consequences. 

Simply  because  we  feel  strong  and  healthy, 
because  alcoholic  drinks  are  pleasant  and  afford 
a  savor  to  our  social  life  which  makes  their  use 
seemingly  indispensable,  and  because  we  have 
seen  no  immediate  ill  effects  from  this  use,  we  have 
refused  to  believe  alcohol  dangerous. 

Now,  however,  we  know  better.  What  use  we 
are  to  make  of  this  knowledge  may  be  the  most 
important  decision  of  our  lives.  I  can  truthfully 
say  that  I,  personally,  have  weighed  alcohol 
in  the  balance,  and  found  it  wanting.  Calmly 
and  dispassionately,  without  the  slightest  desire  to 
proselyte  or  unduly  influence,  I  pass  the  results  of 
these  studies  on  to  you. 


BREAKING  THE  ALCOHOL  SHACKLES   207 

I  know  that  alcohol  produces  deficiency  —  in 
industry,  in  health  and  length  of  life,  in  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  well-being.  I  sincerely  hope 
that  you  will  give  the  subject  careful  consideration, 
and  shape  your  future  course  in  accordance  with 
deliberation  and  judgment. 


